Built A High End Luxury Beauty Business With Texas Charm I Kaylee Watts I AO 29

Here is a description for Kaylee Watts - Thoughts?
At the beginning of building a thriving laser skincare business, Kaylee Watts was juggling four jobs keeping Austin Laser Solutions running (all solo) — answering phones, treating clients, and managing books all between 6th Street bar shifts. What started as a grind turned into a scaled, multi-location operation with loyal clients and a growing team. But with growth came something else: the pressure, the grief, and a reckoning with what it all costs.
In this episode of American Operator, Kaylee walks us through:

• Launching her business debt-free with one machine and pure hustle
• Hiring her first employee (a best friend) and learning to lead
• Growing slow, on purpose, and building real relationships
• What losing her mom taught her about boundaries, burnout, and why success needs space

 If you’ve ever carried your business too close to your heart or wondered when it’s time to step back — this one will hit home.

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Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:15
Speaker 1
Hard work. Real talk. No shortcuts. I'm Joseph Cabrera. This is American operator.

00:00:09:15 - 00:00:15:15
Speaker 2
Well, then we'll get kicked off. Okay? I'll just do it like.

00:00:15:16 - 00:00:29:06
Speaker 2
All right. Not okay. Okay. Let's. Yeah. Hello? Okay. Hi. He's actually a good start. Okay. Kaylee. What?

00:00:29:08 - 00:00:47:07
Speaker 1
We're laughing here already because. Gosh, man, I wish y'all can tune in to what we were talking about before. We're talking about dogs that we think are going to be a certain way, and then they end up not being. But fortunately or unfortunately, you know, for the next 15 years. That's right. Yeah. So you got to take care of me the way, so good to have you on the show.

00:00:47:07 - 00:00:47:20
Speaker 1
Thanks for coming.

00:00:47:20 - 00:00:49:18
Speaker 3
In. Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

00:00:49:23 - 00:01:13:17
Speaker 1
I've been looking forward to this convo for quite some time. And now we got to, you know, scheduled some time back. But not only Austin, just local here as an owner and operator here, but also it's a business I don't know nothing about yet. As soon as I shared you were going to be on the show here at the office, there is a ton of folks in our office that knew exactly what your business was with Austin legislation.

00:01:13:17 - 00:01:25:12
Speaker 1
So we're going to get it all into that. So I'm just telling you personally, just being a natural. Lee, since I was a small dude, naturally curious guy, this is something I've been looking forward to because I was like, Kelly is going to teach me some stuff today.

00:01:25:17 - 00:01:27:00
Speaker 2
That's all right.

00:01:27:02 - 00:01:35:01
Speaker 1
Let's start with this. Where where is home for you originally? And has Austin always been as Austin? Always been kind of where your business home is?

00:01:35:07 - 00:01:43:06
Speaker 3
Right. So I'm originally from Bay city, Texas. It's down on the coast, and I moved to Austin about 20 years ago.

00:01:43:08 - 00:01:45:03
Speaker 1
So you pretty much as local as it gets now?

00:01:45:03 - 00:01:46:01
Speaker 3
That's right.

00:01:46:03 - 00:01:50:15
Speaker 1
Yes. What was the reason for moving down here? Was it because of work or are you just trying to get out of Bay city?

00:01:50:15 - 00:01:56:02
Speaker 2
I was trying to get a very long Bay city. Great. No.

00:01:56:04 - 00:02:08:16
Speaker 3
I wanted to see the lights. I was ready for the city. Yeah. Experienced new things. I wanted nothing to do with that. The small town country. And now it's funny. I'm trying to chase it. I'm trying to get back.

00:02:08:17 - 00:02:22:02
Speaker 1
Trying to get back to it. Yes. You were talking about being outdoors. We're going to jump into that too. But like when you do get your time away from the big city here, so to speak, do you go back to Bay city or where is like a favorite place that you like to escape to?

00:02:22:02 - 00:02:32:10
Speaker 3
Oh yeah, I do. I do like to go back to Bay city and my family's there. There's great fishing and bird hunting. So yeah, it's I enjoy being on the water.

00:02:32:13 - 00:02:33:19
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:02:33:21 - 00:02:55:02
Speaker 1
I mean, actually it's kind of an interesting thing to kick off into, I think with, small towns. Why do you think that is? Like we spend all our life, especially as professionals, chasing the big city down. We get there. There's a lot to love about it. But then, like, why do you think at that kind of probably for both of us, there's a drawback to the small town that we grew up in.

00:02:55:04 - 00:02:57:06
Speaker 1
What do you think that is?

00:02:57:08 - 00:02:59:14
Speaker 3
Old age.

00:02:59:16 - 00:03:01:06
Speaker 2
You know, I think getting.

00:03:01:06 - 00:03:07:10
Speaker 3
Back to your roots, going back to something that's familiar, could be a reason.

00:03:07:13 - 00:03:13:17
Speaker 1
Yeah. What's it what are the things you enjoyed about growing? Like, what were the things when you close your eyes and you daydream about Bay city, what are those things?

00:03:13:17 - 00:03:37:02
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. We had it was so much fun growing up as a kid. We had the beach, you know, 20 miles from my house. And I remember, you know, big bonfires on the beach. Everything was just different. You get out of school, you go straight to the beach. Yeah. But, yeah, I think it's it's freedom. A little bit more freedom in a small town.

00:03:37:03 - 00:03:55:20
Speaker 1
Yeah, there's something about. Yeah, something. Now, I think if you just as you were talking about bonfires on the beach, I thought about you like to shoot, I do. And so I remember going to, I remember going to school down in South Texas and beforehand, my friends and I, we would go, my brother, my friends and I, we'd go out to the there's like an orange grove near the school.

00:03:55:22 - 00:04:00:11
Speaker 1
We'd literally go shoot skeet for the first 30 minutes before the bell kicked off.

00:04:00:12 - 00:04:02:05
Speaker 2
We literally keep our shotguns.

00:04:02:05 - 00:04:16:04
Speaker 1
In the back of the truck, drive in class, go hang out all day. I think you captured it rights. It is freedom. I think when you come here, it's not like you can't do what you want to do. But it does seem socially like there's this. Like you just have things you were supposed.

00:04:16:04 - 00:04:16:13
Speaker 2
To do.

00:04:16:14 - 00:04:27:21
Speaker 3
Right? Yeah, it's a little bit more busy. You have more things to take up your time in a bigger city. I feel like then in a small town, when there's nothing to do, you get to be. If you get to be a kid.

00:04:27:23 - 00:04:39:19
Speaker 1
Yeah, you get to kind of do what you want to do. Yeah. So you get to Austin and I imagine you don't start this business you have now right off the bat. What what was that? So you what happened when you arrived here.

00:04:39:21 - 00:04:53:06
Speaker 3
When I well, when I arrived here, I was interning at a funeral home on the east side of MLK.

00:04:53:08 - 00:05:03:23
Speaker 2
I'm not. No, I'm not talking about if I had to guess what Kaylee did before Austin's laser sleeves. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, okay. Yeah. I mean, how do you even get that job?

00:05:04:01 - 00:05:07:03
Speaker 1
I mean, where were you? Just anything you could get or what was the deal?

00:05:07:03 - 00:05:25:20
Speaker 3
So right after high school, I, I went to the junior college for a bit. Yeah. And it's that's this is part of my story is I, I have literally filled every written test I've ever taken, including my driver's ed test.

00:05:25:22 - 00:05:28:21
Speaker 2
So I need to do something.

00:05:28:23 - 00:05:37:04
Speaker 3
And my best friend at the time was going to mortuary school, and I was like, cool, let's go. That was it. That was it. 100% death rate. I will always have a job.

00:05:37:04 - 00:05:38:00
Speaker 2
Oh yeah.

00:05:38:00 - 00:05:51:05
Speaker 1
That's always going to be that's always going to be a thing humans do. What? Are you okay? Your friend? I got so many questions about. How does your friend even get it? Was it like a family business thing? Nobody does that. I don't know if I know a single mortuary affairs person, but in high school.

00:05:51:07 - 00:06:05:20
Speaker 3
I mean, I don't know how she wanted, why she wanted to get into that, I don't remember. I just knew that I was needed something to do to get out of Bay city. And yeah, that was my first chance. Mom. I'm going. I'm going to college in Houston. I'm going to be a mortician.

00:06:05:20 - 00:06:07:21
Speaker 2
So that was it? Yeah.

00:06:07:23 - 00:06:11:00
Speaker 1
What was the internship like? I mean, what did you do day to day there?

00:06:11:02 - 00:06:15:19
Speaker 3
Oh, I was in the prep room, I was embalming. That's right.

00:06:15:21 - 00:06:19:22
Speaker 1
Whoa. I mean, what is how do you. I mean, is that you learn in schools that.

00:06:20:00 - 00:06:24:05
Speaker 3
I'm not in school. You have ten families that you have to take care of, and.

00:06:24:05 - 00:06:25:09
Speaker 2
Wow. Yeah.

00:06:25:15 - 00:06:35:14
Speaker 1
Can you, How formidable was that to just kicking off your professional career? Like, as you look back on it, do you have any big takeaways from that experience?

00:06:35:16 - 00:06:37:14
Speaker 3
I know.

00:06:37:16 - 00:06:39:19
Speaker 2
No, I can't tell you that. Did you ever.

00:06:39:19 - 00:06:43:00
Speaker 1
Have to deal with the like, folks front of house and stuff too.

00:06:43:03 - 00:07:05:15
Speaker 3
Right. Yes, exactly. So no, I did not. I stayed back in the prop room a lot of the time, but I did have to assist in the funerals and that's why I left. Like whenever I was getting lockjaw or trying not to cry, dealing with the grieving families, that was really difficult for me and I had that was just that was a whole experience that I've never I've never had before.

00:07:05:20 - 00:07:13:11
Speaker 3
I thought I was more hardcore than I really was, and that's not the case. I was it was so hurtful to me. I didn't like it. So.

00:07:13:16 - 00:07:22:20
Speaker 1
So you decided, okay, not for me anymore, right? What did you at that point, then? Did you go, okay, I'm changing what I'm studying. I'm changing what I'm doing. What was the the next step?

00:07:22:22 - 00:07:45:23
Speaker 3
Right. The next step was service industry, okay. And then service industry. And in high school. And, my roommate at the time in Austin was in the service industry, and, she got me a job. And that right there was that was a turning point. I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. And that was networking.

00:07:46:01 - 00:08:06:15
Speaker 3
And we'll go into that in a bit because that's part of, how I started the business was because of the service industry while I was there. I mean, I was I was doing this, you know, for ten years in Austin before the business started. But, I had to figure out what I was going to do next.

00:08:06:15 - 00:08:12:07
Speaker 3
And that was whenever I decided to go to school to be an obstetrician at the time.

00:08:12:09 - 00:08:16:15
Speaker 1
And that was that was because of learning some things through the service industry or.

00:08:16:15 - 00:08:19:15
Speaker 3
No, that was just trying to figure out a career path.

00:08:19:15 - 00:08:20:08
Speaker 1
What's next?

00:08:20:09 - 00:08:22:10
Speaker 3
Right next. It's always what's next.

00:08:22:11 - 00:08:36:15
Speaker 1
When you say service industry, what was after you kind of did some time, you know, funeral home and stuff. What was the first entrance into the service industry, restaurants or hotels or none of those bars. Bars? Yeah. What was so did you here in Austin.

00:08:36:15 - 00:08:37:09
Speaker 2
In Austin.

00:08:37:09 - 00:08:38:12
Speaker 1
Where like on six or.

00:08:38:12 - 00:08:39:22
Speaker 2
Something. Sixth Street, get out of here.

00:08:39:22 - 00:08:42:20
Speaker 1
That is like being a bartender. Bartender. What?

00:08:42:22 - 00:08:43:17
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.

00:08:43:19 - 00:08:48:10
Speaker 1
Can you say the bars that you Barnett or that you served at.

00:08:48:12 - 00:08:49:18
Speaker 3
Majority of them.

00:08:49:18 - 00:08:50:18
Speaker 2
Really?

00:08:50:19 - 00:08:58:18
Speaker 1
So it wasn't just a one, actually. Okay, that's a really cool thing. Do you do bartenders? Typically have a couple places they work.

00:08:58:18 - 00:09:16:01
Speaker 3
And sure, you have a home base, but if you know they need you to fill in somewhere and you just you're making friends and you know, yes, you'll go to different places. And, 512 was one of the bars. I worked at dogwood for a bit. And yeah, I mean, just.

00:09:16:03 - 00:09:16:13
Speaker 2
Lots.

00:09:16:13 - 00:09:18:19
Speaker 3
Lots of them. Dizzy rooster and.

00:09:18:21 - 00:09:19:07
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:09:19:07 - 00:09:21:04
Speaker 1
Did you, did you like it?

00:09:21:06 - 00:09:32:06
Speaker 3
Oh, I loved it. I felt. Yeah, I felt good, you know, being in the nightlife and meeting people and customers service and. Yeah, I did like it at the time at.

00:09:32:07 - 00:09:41:12
Speaker 1
Yeah. What was the. I feel like everybody thinks from the outside looking in, like, you got to be a night owl and a socialite to be really good at that job. Is that true?

00:09:41:14 - 00:09:47:20
Speaker 3
I don't I don't know, I don't really remember, like, wanting to or.

00:09:47:22 - 00:10:06:05
Speaker 3
I don't know, I can't, I can't answer that and definitely because now it's I'm the opposite. I'm more of an introvert. It's all my time off. I want to be in the middle of nowhere. Yeah. So was I a socialite in my 20s? I guess so, I mean, bartending and meeting all the people and.

00:10:06:11 - 00:10:07:01
Speaker 1
Kind of have to.

00:10:07:01 - 00:10:15:08
Speaker 3
Be kind of have to be. Yeah. Did I like it? I mean, I guess I liked. Yeah, I guess so. So I guess I just answered my question.

00:10:15:10 - 00:10:16:10
Speaker 2
That was a long circle.

00:10:16:12 - 00:10:33:19
Speaker 1
No, that's good. I mean, because I do I always find it fascinating where folks start because I do think that it it's like it can kind of inform you a little bit of like what you're going to end up doing. And so obviously, like when you think about the businesses you've grown, whereas the business you're grown today, you know, people have a very it's an experience.

00:10:33:19 - 00:10:42:11
Speaker 1
It's not just a service, but so you get them bartending and then and then you go, okay, I need I'm going to explore this as decision thinking. My senior citizens.

00:10:42:12 - 00:10:44:03
Speaker 2
Yes.

00:10:44:04 - 00:10:46:06
Speaker 1
You go to school for that and then what happens?

00:10:46:08 - 00:10:50:18
Speaker 3
I'm still I'm still bartending throughout this entire process.

00:10:50:19 - 00:10:51:14
Speaker 2
I mean.

00:10:51:16 - 00:11:12:15
Speaker 3
That's not where the money wasn't, you know, and in that field, you know, you have to be at a really good at the time, an owner to make any money. Yeah. So I, I go to school and I get a job and in medicine I'm making 15 bucks an hour and I can't afford life. I already have four roommates.

00:11:12:15 - 00:11:14:01
Speaker 2
And I mean, like, yeah, this.

00:11:14:01 - 00:11:15:07
Speaker 1
Is expensive town.

00:11:15:09 - 00:11:15:21
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:11:15:23 - 00:11:24:04
Speaker 3
And so I'm still bartending. And again, I didn't stop bartending till I was 30. I'm almost 30.

00:11:24:04 - 00:11:24:19
Speaker 2
Wow.

00:11:24:21 - 00:11:27:08
Speaker 3
Right. Right before I started the business.

00:11:27:10 - 00:11:43:06
Speaker 1
So you get what was the. Were you sitting there in the bar one day and just said, you know what, I, I need to just commit? Like, what was that? I'm always fascinated with like a, an owner, a founders kind of moment. They decide, this is what I'm going to do. Like why and when was that?

00:11:43:08 - 00:12:17:14
Speaker 3
I think that moment came after, I had a conversation with a buddy of mine who we talk about to this day. You know, he saw what I was doing and gave me the encouragement, I think of you should you should go off on your own. And I had been thinking that for years. In fact, my, my grandmother and my grandfather, I worked at a place for eight years and probably wanted to quit every other week.

00:12:17:14 - 00:12:45:16
Speaker 3
And he's just learning the business just like the business. And that's what I did. I was a maid. I was a laser professional. I was the receptionist. I was the therapist, you know, and I would come in before work. So this is going back to being a bartender and networking. Yeah. So making friends, the the med spa that I was working at was on six and Sanders sandwich, you know.

00:12:45:16 - 00:12:46:07
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:12:46:09 - 00:13:15:16
Speaker 3
And I would leave the spa on the weekends, leave the spa, go straight to the bar. And that's what I would be doing is work, then the bar, then leave the bar and go straight to work. A couple hours later, we were allowed to laser our friends to a certain point. Okay. So coming in before work and after work and lasering a couple of my friends, and and then it became out of control.

00:13:15:16 - 00:13:18:21
Speaker 3
It's like I was lasering more friends and clients.

00:13:18:23 - 00:13:22:10
Speaker 1
And you were allowed to laser friends. Just like for training. Like for practice?

00:13:22:10 - 00:13:36:08
Speaker 3
No, it was a mom and pop shop we were allowed to have. Like, I even I do it at my, my, my place to. Yeah, but I've created boundaries that that wasn't those boundaries didn't get created at the place I was working at until.

00:13:36:08 - 00:13:40:06
Speaker 2
After me, by the way. Oh yeah. Oh. Trailblazer. Yeah.

00:13:40:11 - 00:14:00:03
Speaker 3
Oh yes. Yes, I mean yes, it was wild. So it was like friends. And that's when, that's when the wheels started turning is okay. I think I've got this. So I reached out to the owner and I was like, let's, let's do something together. And I presented something and he's like, no, I don't think that's going to work out there.

00:14:00:05 - 00:14:01:03
Speaker 3
And that's where.

00:14:01:05 - 00:14:02:05
Speaker 1
You see, I got to do it on my own.

00:14:02:05 - 00:14:04:07
Speaker 3
Then I do it on my own.

00:14:04:09 - 00:14:19:02
Speaker 1
For those who don't know, because I want to definitely talk the biz and kind of how you got into it. But how do you describe what Lasering is like? What is laser for guys? Never done it before. How would you describe. And there's a I know your business is way more full suite now and it's got a lot going on.

00:14:19:02 - 00:14:23:19
Speaker 1
But I'm curious, like someone who's never heard of it before, what is the service we do?

00:14:23:19 - 00:14:25:00
Speaker 3
Laser hair removal.

00:14:25:03 - 00:14:25:13
Speaker 2
Yes.

00:14:25:13 - 00:14:35:05
Speaker 3
Tattoo removal and skin rejuvenation. So I can help people. You want to get rid of hair? Yeah. Tattoo or, have youthful skin.

00:14:35:07 - 00:14:37:20
Speaker 1
So all with the use of laser technology.

00:14:37:20 - 00:14:39:08
Speaker 3
Laser technology? Yes.

00:14:39:10 - 00:14:51:10
Speaker 1
When you were getting into it, was there anything about. Was it kind of new at the time? Like was there was that kind of, you had to be an early adopter to be like, is this okay to you? Seems more common now. But back then, was it.

00:14:51:12 - 00:15:10:08
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I think that when I first started, it was just with laser hair and tattoo removal. And it had been it had been developed or happening for about ten years prior to me, or maybe 5 to 7 years prior to me. So it didn't seem unnatural at the time. When I got into it.

00:15:10:08 - 00:15:20:00
Speaker 1
Okay, so that already been a little bit of time warmed up to it. So you go off on your own, what was the next what was the next step after that?

00:15:20:01 - 00:15:22:01
Speaker 1
You just like open up a building I where do you even.

00:15:22:01 - 00:15:22:12
Speaker 2
Go from.

00:15:22:12 - 00:15:44:09
Speaker 3
There. So yeah. So whenever. No. Oh it was a such a process. I, these lasers are expensive, by the way. Okay. And, you know, I had a few. I had some money in savings, and I was able to get a loan from the bank, but the interest rates were so high, I didn't want to have to borrow too much.

00:15:44:09 - 00:15:57:05
Speaker 3
I was scared, and, I also borrowed some money from my grandparents. Not much, I believe as well. And considering I think I was like 20, 20, 20,000 for my grandparents.

00:15:57:06 - 00:15:57:21
Speaker 2
Okay.

00:15:57:23 - 00:16:01:06
Speaker 1
And was that going to be enough to buy the machine or. They're even more expensive than that.

00:16:01:07 - 00:16:06:09
Speaker 3
Between me, the bank and my grandparents, I got it. I had enough to buy the machine.

00:16:06:12 - 00:16:07:07
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:16:07:08 - 00:16:35:20
Speaker 3
I had enough to buy the machine. And a few months of rent, but I had of where I ended up going, but I didn't have any money for this beautiful brick and mortar. I knew I wanted to be in caves, West Lake, Lakeway because that's where all the money was. Yeah. And, so I decided to rent to rent a room in a space that had similar, services as me.

00:16:36:02 - 00:16:44:16
Speaker 3
So in the beauty industry. So, beauticians or. Oh, yeah, waxer and things like that.

00:16:44:18 - 00:16:53:07
Speaker 1
And you kind of need it. People were going to come or it was easier to maybe attract some initial clientele having being in the same place that similar businesses were.

00:16:53:09 - 00:17:16:23
Speaker 3
Right. I think that, no, I didn't even have that thought process. Okay. I mean, the the business thought process came, was coming at the same time of me taking that that taking that risk, I knew that I had enough. I built enough of a network in the service industry that I could, that I could figure it out like, we can we can do this just by word of mouth alone.

00:17:16:23 - 00:17:30:06
Speaker 3
And. Yeah, and that's what happened. But, yeah. So that's how the business model started is one room, one laser, one laser professional in a building like a loft, a salon, lofts.

00:17:30:08 - 00:17:38:08
Speaker 1
I see, and like how with that one machine you can do in one person at a time. Like, how many folks could you do during that period?

00:17:38:08 - 00:17:52:06
Speaker 3
Sure. So in, like, I'll in an hour. So because the place that I worked at was so fast paced and busy, I learned I learned time management so I could laser four people in one hour.

00:17:52:06 - 00:17:53:06
Speaker 2
Okay.

00:17:53:08 - 00:17:54:21
Speaker 3
That's super. It was really.

00:17:54:21 - 00:17:56:04
Speaker 1
Fast. That's moving.

00:17:56:06 - 00:17:56:22
Speaker 3
That's moving.

00:17:57:00 - 00:18:07:00
Speaker 1
How like when you did it okay. You got the machine. You get the place you're set up. Was it like customers coming in from day one or what was or did you kind of have to hold your breath for a while.

00:18:07:02 - 00:18:07:16
Speaker 2
No.

00:18:07:16 - 00:18:18:22
Speaker 3
For me it was customers coming in. I was pen and paper, like everyone that's coming in. And I was like, okay, so this is how much this is how many people can come in, okay, I can make my rent this week if I get this many people.

00:18:18:22 - 00:18:19:11
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:18:19:13 - 00:18:29:07
Speaker 3
And so I'm calling all my friends, every friend I was having them post on social media, whatever, whatever platform they, they had. Let's post about it.

00:18:29:07 - 00:18:35:11
Speaker 1
weren't having to wait for you weren't having to wait for people to come in their business because of your former networks and just people who supported.

00:18:35:11 - 00:19:00:11
Speaker 3
Yeah, right. However. Yes and no. So I still I was able to make rent with my current network, but I wanted to pay off the bank and my grandparents even faster. Yeah. So that's when that's when I started reaching out. I went to every boss babe event. I joined every gym. I was on the streets trying to meet people and tell them about me.

00:19:00:13 - 00:19:01:18
Speaker 2
And yeah.

00:19:01:22 - 00:19:03:00
Speaker 1
How did you know to do that?

00:19:03:00 - 00:19:04:13
Speaker 3
Like, I don't know.

00:19:04:14 - 00:19:10:10
Speaker 1
Is that like, is it like Kayla? The person is just kind of scrappy that way? Or did you see somebody else do that? Like what?

00:19:10:12 - 00:19:33:01
Speaker 3
It was just, scrappy. Yes. I had no, like, just something in me, like having that weight on my shoulders to borrowing money. Not just from, like, borrowing money from my grandparents. That hurt my heart. Like, I didn't like that feeling of having to owe someone. Yeah. So, I mean, I made sure to figure it out and figure it out fast.

00:19:33:01 - 00:19:34:22
Speaker 3
How I can get that money back to them.

00:19:35:00 - 00:19:47:04
Speaker 1
Why do you think they obviously believed in you? Why? Like what was, I must even with the Swedish grandparents out there, you're not always going to have the opportunity to even, you know, have someone bet on you. Why do you think they believed in you?

00:19:47:07 - 00:19:55:12
Speaker 3
Oh, because they know I'm scrappy. The grit and the grind that I've always had. They believed in me, you know?

00:19:55:13 - 00:19:57:16
Speaker 1
Did you kind of grow up with and around them quite a bit?

00:19:57:18 - 00:20:12:01
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. The I, I used to joke my mom was like my sister who could ground me. And my grandparents were like my parents. So they were just all so young when they had when they start having babies.

00:20:12:03 - 00:20:17:05
Speaker 1
How long did it take? So they believed in you and how long did it take before you were able to just pay them back?

00:20:17:05 - 00:20:18:09
Speaker 3
Eight months.

00:20:18:11 - 00:20:22:12
Speaker 1
Holy smokes. That's moving. And the bank same time.

00:20:23:06 - 00:20:23:20
Speaker 3
Everything.

00:20:23:22 - 00:20:27:13
Speaker 1
What have you grown the business with any debt now or. How's that.

00:20:27:15 - 00:20:30:21
Speaker 3
I have zero debt. I haven't been in that sense.

00:20:30:22 - 00:20:43:14
Speaker 1
And how did you learn that. Like word. I think in it like in a country where everything is debt ridden right. Like you get debt for everything here. Oh yes. How did you decide that? That isn't the way I want to be. Just because you don't want to like. Because I like when people.

00:20:44:06 - 00:20:46:07
Speaker 3
I saw it and it wasn't fine.

00:20:46:09 - 00:20:46:17
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:20:47:12 - 00:20:50:02
Speaker 1
Having somebody else kind of have that line on you.

00:20:50:04 - 00:21:03:00
Speaker 3
Yes. Yeah. Being seeing, you know, my mom was in debt and seeing her being upside down and, you know, credit cards. And I just knew that that wasn't I didn't like that. I didn't want to do that.

00:21:03:04 - 00:21:10:16
Speaker 1
Has it been hard to grow the business that way, or did you do you feel like you've figured out some way to do it without obviously you figured out some way to do it?

00:21:10:18 - 00:21:39:20
Speaker 3
I figured out how to do it that way. This this far. However, you know, when I'm having these more conversations about growing, it's like there's good and there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah. Right now it was I feel safe, I feel safe not having debt. And, you know, we'll have more conversations and I'll learn a little bit more about that good debt and whether I want to take that good debt on or not.

00:21:39:20 - 00:21:43:11
Speaker 3
But, yeah, I was able to grow without it, and I still can.

00:21:43:13 - 00:21:54:02
Speaker 1
What's the like after you got that first location humming? What was the next growth point for you then? Like, you got that one location, did you buy another machine or do you mean do they have to grow into something else? How did that go?

00:21:54:07 - 00:22:21:16
Speaker 3
Well, listen. So I was a one man show for two years and I was working more often than I was sleeping. And that is because I didn't realize that clients would dictate your, your whole, entire life like that. You know, I was I needed to be in that room just grinding on that laser because that's how much business I was bringing in unintentionally at that point.

00:22:21:18 - 00:22:25:13
Speaker 3
Yeah. You know, the first eight months when I was on the streets, it brought in.

00:22:25:13 - 00:22:26:11
Speaker 2
So much.

00:22:26:11 - 00:22:28:19
Speaker 3
Business leading on, you know.

00:22:29:00 - 00:22:31:08
Speaker 1
So all that prep work, like teed up a huge queue.

00:22:31:08 - 00:22:32:02
Speaker 2
For, you know.

00:22:32:02 - 00:22:32:11
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:22:32:11 - 00:22:35:02
Speaker 1
And then people coming back, all that stuff. Right.

00:22:35:07 - 00:22:52:09
Speaker 3
Oh yes. You know, as much as I like the laser word world or the esthetic world, unfortunately it's you know, you are going to need maintenance for the rest of your life. Your own body's fighting against, you know. Yeah. You know, this is the best technology on the market to date, and you still need to come back.

00:22:52:11 - 00:23:09:07
Speaker 1
Wow. Is that when you were just kind of more like in kind of getting inside, look in the operations day to day work. So if you're doing all the work all day long, like when did you have time to like do all the, I don't know, bookings and sales and all the admin that was at at night or like when did that happen.

00:23:09:07 - 00:23:35:11
Speaker 3
Right. So at this. Yeah. At the same time at night before my first client, anytime I had time to breathe, I was I was doing it and I guess I was just, I was, I was conditioned to. I guess multitask or, I don't know, just to move quickly and get it done at the same time. If I let anything, linger for too long, it just weighs too heavy on me.

00:23:35:11 - 00:23:38:02
Speaker 3
So I'm. I get it done as quick as I can.

00:23:38:02 - 00:23:41:11
Speaker 1
Says freedom. Part of the DNA. Like you just move in. Kind of built for it.

00:23:41:11 - 00:23:43:16
Speaker 3
Then I'm built for. I'm built for that. Yes.

00:23:43:19 - 00:23:51:09
Speaker 1
So then. Okay, so you're a one gal show for two years, and then you decided to bring on like, helper next year. What was the next step after that?

00:23:51:10 - 00:23:56:14
Speaker 3
Yeah, I was, I finally took a vacation. Okay. I was in Mexico.

00:23:56:18 - 00:23:59:16
Speaker 1
I was like, went back, basically went back basically.

00:23:59:18 - 00:24:08:13
Speaker 3
No, I wasn't I was in Mexico with a group of friends and we were all just chatting about. And I was like, man, I'm not I'm gonna have to go back to so much work.

00:24:08:13 - 00:24:09:02
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:24:09:04 - 00:24:12:23
Speaker 3
And my friend was like, why don't you hire someone to help you? You can afford it. And I was.

00:24:12:23 - 00:24:14:21
Speaker 2
Like, oh my gosh.

00:24:14:23 - 00:24:27:00
Speaker 3
I had no idea that wasn't even an option. Yeah, because people wanted to come see me. And so, I called my best friend who's still at the company today. Really? Oh, yeah.

00:24:27:02 - 00:24:32:08
Speaker 1
And when was this again? You started in 2013. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's a writer die, friend.

00:24:32:10 - 00:24:34:13
Speaker 2
12 years. Yeah. That's right. Wow.

00:24:34:14 - 00:24:39:19
Speaker 3
Well, to, ten years. Yeah. Ten years. Yeah. She's been with the company.

00:24:39:19 - 00:24:42:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. Oh, she's been, I tell you. But y'all been around for longer. Yeah.

00:24:42:03 - 00:25:01:23
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. We go way back. And she was in the service industry too, and I said, Katie, I'm gonna. I need you to quit your job. I need I need some help. You have to come work for me or with me. And, literally, when I got back from Mexico, she was next to me in the office, and I would start teaching her everything I knew.

00:25:02:01 - 00:25:02:16
Speaker 3
Everything.

00:25:02:16 - 00:25:04:14
Speaker 1
Was she not even doing laser stuff before that?

00:25:04:16 - 00:25:06:03
Speaker 2
Yeah. No way. Really?

00:25:06:03 - 00:25:11:02
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. She had to go to school while she was interning with me.

00:25:11:04 - 00:25:12:05
Speaker 2
Oh my goodness.

00:25:12:05 - 00:25:19:10
Speaker 1
Me. So the amount of, like, I for some reason had in my mind, oh, she was lasering somewhere else. And she's like, cool, I'll just come hang out with you.

00:25:19:10 - 00:25:21:17
Speaker 2
So she left. What was she doing?

00:25:21:20 - 00:25:25:11
Speaker 3
She was in the service injury. Okay. So just bartending at the same. Yeah.

00:25:25:13 - 00:25:29:08
Speaker 1
But I mean there's still so she's bartending. She's like, okay, I'm going to leave this thing I've never done before.

00:25:29:08 - 00:25:30:04
Speaker 3
That's right.

00:25:30:05 - 00:25:35:05
Speaker 1
Trust. Kelly. Get in there. Did you fill her time up pretty quickly?

00:25:35:07 - 00:25:55:20
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. Really quickly. Well, I say really quickly, but looking back on it, it wasn't. It wasn't so quickly. Yeah, because it took six months and she was still, you know, she was still bartending on the side because I was I mean, I was I had four jobs at one time, you know, bartending cocktail waitress, hostess at a fine dining restaurant.

00:25:55:20 - 00:26:16:01
Speaker 3
And so lasering so I was I needed to make moves. I've always been a hard worker. So she was still able to do that. So she had some income. I could only, you know, was only paying her so much money at the time, but. Yeah. Anyway, so she was able to go down that same path of working two jobs while also in school and also interning with me.

00:26:16:03 - 00:26:26:19
Speaker 3
And it took about six months until I felt comfortable and confident to essentially buy her a laser and open up another location for her just to go and run.

00:26:26:21 - 00:26:36:12
Speaker 1
Wow. I mean that. And so you stated your location. You had a second location at that point in time. Was that second location bigger like you could or is same thing kind of a one shot business model?

00:26:36:16 - 00:26:37:01
Speaker 2
Wow.

00:26:37:06 - 00:26:43:13
Speaker 3
One laser, one laser professional. And we were only doing laser hair removal at the time. Okay. That's how we were able. Just,

00:26:43:15 - 00:26:59:10
Speaker 1
How long did you stay? I think that's something like for folks who tune into the show. Like, there is always this question of like, when do you expand and grow and get into other things? So how long did you just stay laser hair removal? Like how long in the business before you decided to add on new things?

00:26:59:12 - 00:27:13:22
Speaker 3
I think that whenever I could start a because, you know, I'm, I'm debt free. And I was scared whenever I could afford to buy a new laser. That's what I did. Yeah. And, learning how to optimize your book of business.

00:27:14:22 - 00:27:21:17
Speaker 1
See, so it's not just. Oh, we need to go expand. It's like, how how do you get these people to come in more often or whatever it might be.

00:27:21:19 - 00:27:22:13
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yes.

00:27:22:16 - 00:27:32:00
Speaker 1
So do you say did you go, was it a few years before you like what was the next thing that you entered in. It was a tattoo removal or what was the next service.

00:27:32:01 - 00:27:50:03
Speaker 3
The next service I entered was skin rejuvenation with the clear and brilliant, which is an amazing device. Yeah. And how I picked that one is because I used to suffer from acne. And I went to, dermatology. I had a consultation, and they did a treatment on me. It was amazing. Two weeks later, I bought the device.

00:27:50:04 - 00:27:50:13
Speaker 2
Wow.

00:27:50:18 - 00:28:03:19
Speaker 3
Yeah. And that's what I. That's what I like to do. I'd like to test these devices on myself, make sure that they're meet my expectations. And, then I go on, buy it. And because if it helps me, I can help other people.

00:28:03:19 - 00:28:06:17
Speaker 1
Yeah, because you can really believe what you are putting out there.

00:28:06:19 - 00:28:17:21
Speaker 3
There's so much technology out there. I mean, there's I mean, all my devices I stand by, but there's also several other, you know, devices and lasers that that are also helpful.

00:28:18:02 - 00:28:30:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. When you how many. So if you started it, was it years before you ended up putting into the, the the rejuvenation type equipment or was that 2 or 3 years in.

00:28:30:05 - 00:28:34:06
Speaker 3
No, it was no, I was about yeah, you're right. It was about 2 or 3 years in.

00:28:34:07 - 00:28:39:22
Speaker 1
Okay. So you kind of was like, hey, look, I want to master the hair removal stuff first, correct. Before we start expanding.

00:28:40:00 - 00:28:55:16
Speaker 3
And then I kept that one one, one device at the clear and brilliant for probably another year or two before I would expand into something else. Like I again like mastering those devices that you have. Yeah. And then adding something else.

00:28:55:18 - 00:28:56:06
Speaker 1
Like how did.

00:28:56:06 - 00:28:57:08
Speaker 2
You.

00:28:57:10 - 00:29:17:16
Speaker 1
I'm the reason I'm my, I'm my kind of thinking hard about it right now is because there's so much wisdom in that process that you seem to have done kind of naturally where it's like, stay the course for a while and then maybe even beyond comfortable, stay a little longer, master, then move on to the next thing. Don't overextend yourself on cash.

00:29:17:16 - 00:29:37:16
Speaker 1
Like all these things that I feel like they teach at the highest levels of this stuff, but you seem to have just figured it out on your own. And obviously now I've built a it's a bigger business. It's a big business. So like I'm just curious, like, where is that from? Is that like the way you grew up or is that just.

00:29:37:18 - 00:29:53:22
Speaker 3
Yes. Oh, yes. It's a lot to have to do with the how I grew up. If you know, my, my family didn't really take risks. And I as you can tell, I'm a risk taker. I mean, I like I like from what we talked about earlier today, you.

00:29:53:22 - 00:29:54:08
Speaker 2
Know, I.

00:29:54:11 - 00:29:55:12
Speaker 1
Like playing planes. Everything.

00:29:55:12 - 00:29:56:00
Speaker 2
Exactly.

00:29:56:00 - 00:30:12:07
Speaker 3
I like that feeling. But. So I have that balance of you can take those risk. But let's let's think through this a little bit. Let's figure out all the ways what could happen, could it happen and then move forward from there. But then you have to take a risk.

00:30:12:07 - 00:30:18:17
Speaker 1
Yeah. You kind of sounds like the risks you take are ones that you feel like you still have a good foundation.

00:30:18:17 - 00:30:21:00
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. I feel like I'm. Yes, exactly.

00:30:21:02 - 00:30:27:08
Speaker 1
Yeah. You're not going to like, you're not going to over jump. They are jump a little bit here. Let me test it. Let's see if it's going to go. Let's go a little longer.

00:30:27:08 - 00:30:34:09
Speaker 3
That's right. It's like it's like you know I love skydiving. Yeah, but I'm not going to jump by myself, you know what I mean?

00:30:34:09 - 00:30:35:15
Speaker 2
It's like, yeah, I'll jump.

00:30:35:15 - 00:30:38:18
Speaker 3
But let's let's make sure that I'm safe at the same time.

00:30:38:18 - 00:30:54:02
Speaker 1
Yeah, let's kind of, let's not change all the factors in the equation. Let's just change a few at a time. That's right. When you're. So you got I mean, just really for folks listening now like how describe the business today. So that was kind of the first couple of years. What give us like how many locations how many folks you have.

00:30:54:04 - 00:30:56:07
Speaker 1
Yeah I mean because it's grown quite a bit Kaylee.

00:30:56:11 - 00:30:56:20
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:30:56:21 - 00:31:19:23
Speaker 3
So right now I have three locations in one of those locations. We have two rooms, so I call it four locations, but it's basically I just rent two rooms in one of the three locations. Yeah, I just had a fourth location that I shut down. I like to see these grow at a bare minimum of 35% year after year.

00:31:20:01 - 00:31:35:18
Speaker 3
And when that, when my Cedar Park office wasn't growing as quickly. Yeah. And that's when I opened. That's when I was like, okay, I can take that laser and maximize all the clients who are on my waitlist and behave, and let's get them off. Yeah, let's get that going.

00:31:35:18 - 00:31:37:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. So.

00:31:37:07 - 00:31:51:01
Speaker 3
Close the Cedar Park location, and I honestly don't even know what I was doing without having that second laser hair removal device, because that's already. It's fully booked now, too.

00:31:51:03 - 00:31:54:19
Speaker 2
Oh, right. Heck yeah. At the at the beach. At the location. Yeah.

00:31:54:21 - 00:32:05:16
Speaker 3
What? Where were all those clients? What were they doing? They're just waiting, I guess. But, dial that about it and a little bit more and behave when you.

00:32:05:18 - 00:32:10:09
Speaker 1
So how big is the team now? Like how many folks you have helping you do all this stuff? Are you doing it anymore?

00:32:10:11 - 00:32:16:14
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yes and no. So this is this is going to open a can of worms.

00:32:16:16 - 00:32:17:16
Speaker 1
Just like the worms come.

00:32:17:18 - 00:32:20:00
Speaker 2
I guess.

00:32:20:02 - 00:32:34:17
Speaker 3
So the business was running beautifully. Yeah. For the past 11 years. And then, I went through some personal, heartache. I lost my mom, a year ago today, actually.

00:32:34:19 - 00:32:35:06
Speaker 2
Today.

00:32:35:09 - 00:32:38:08
Speaker 1
I'm sorry to hear that. Well, we'll do this in remembrance of her, then.

00:32:38:10 - 00:32:40:04
Speaker 2
What was your name? Laura. Laura?

00:32:40:05 - 00:32:41:00
Speaker 3
Laura, what's.

00:32:41:02 - 00:32:44:05
Speaker 1
Laura or your daughter's doing some cool stuff down here, so.

00:32:44:07 - 00:32:45:07
Speaker 3
And she's. She would.

00:32:45:07 - 00:32:46:20
Speaker 2
Love this. Yeah, well.

00:32:46:21 - 00:32:51:00
Speaker 3
Everything that you have. But we're going to move quickly through this, so.

00:32:51:02 - 00:32:52:08
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:32:52:10 - 00:33:05:09
Speaker 3
I have an, Oh, yes. And so when that happens, which is what's going to lead into the conversation. Yeah. I had so much resentment towards the business.

00:33:05:11 - 00:33:07:19
Speaker 1
Because it took time away from me. You think from her.

00:33:08:00 - 00:33:38:06
Speaker 3
That's right. It took time away from me and her. Yeah. And, so I wanted to burn it down. I didn't care about anything. And that's exactly what I was on the road to do is burn it down and, prior to that, I took said I had transitioned out of the room. And I had always said I should have done this, and I always said I never wanted to stop treating clients because I never want to forget what that feels like to be in the room.

00:33:38:08 - 00:33:51:09
Speaker 3
And, I didn't I didn't listen to myself. So I got out of the room and I stayed at home for the last year, but my job got harder.

00:33:51:11 - 00:33:52:23
Speaker 1
I said, what do you mean?

00:33:52:23 - 00:34:13:21
Speaker 3
Yes. So it is interesting. And because now I'm looking, now I'm in the place where I'm, I'm a year and I'm looking back at all the things that I had just did. It got harder and more time consuming because I didn't have anything to do, because my team was just a powerhouse like I. I created the most beautiful team.

00:34:13:21 - 00:34:22:04
Speaker 3
They just they were just magical. But because I didn't have anything to do and I created that job, I was now a micromanager.

00:34:23:07 - 00:34:25:13
Speaker 3
And I'm.

00:34:25:15 - 00:34:30:06
Speaker 2
What are you doing? You know, I wish they were here.

00:34:30:08 - 00:34:33:23
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. It was. And who the heck wants to be micromanage?

00:34:33:23 - 00:34:34:10
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:34:34:12 - 00:34:56:14
Speaker 3
I don't want to lie. I'm probably, you know, in the seat right now, but, Yeah. And, you know, I would spend time with my mother. I was, I was, I was sitting next to my mother, but I wasn't present. I was on my laptop and I was sending emails, and I was, you know, I mean, it was mentally I was not there.

00:34:56:14 - 00:34:59:01
Speaker 3
And that's what hurts me.

00:34:59:03 - 00:35:20:20
Speaker 1
So it's like it. Yeah. It's a, it's a, an important and real note to make that it does it can become all consuming, you know, this road of owning your own thing and doing your own thing. Did you feel like. You feel like you just had more time, like, hey, we'll get to a point one day or this will free up more and then I'll be able to hang out with my people more.

00:35:20:22 - 00:35:25:20
Speaker 1
It was that the thing that was kind of angering that it just was like, wow, that came and went a lot faster than I thought.

00:35:25:20 - 00:35:47:07
Speaker 3
That's that's right. Yes. You think you have the time and then you have the time, like when I wasn't, you know, with my mother or with my family or with my friends, I didn't feel productive. And that's that's in me too, you know, it's just I needed to feel like I was still a part of the team. And, essentially, that hurt.

00:35:47:11 - 00:35:49:11
Speaker 3
That hurt the business for a bit.

00:35:49:13 - 00:36:15:05
Speaker 1
Wow. What do you what advice would you give folks out there who are like, grinding away right now? And they're looking for that, I don't know, the proverbial waypoint that when things will clear the air or maybe even better. May I ask it again? You talked about like you didn't feel. I think a lot of folks who are kind of built the way you are, like they're they think to themselves, if it's quiet and I'm hanging, we're enjoying dinner with family out in the mountains with them.

00:36:15:07 - 00:36:21:14
Speaker 1
It's not productive. You know, there's like an anxiety they gets. Like any advice you'd give them to calm down about that?

00:36:21:19 - 00:36:47:20
Speaker 3
There is also guilt, guilt. How can I ask somebody to do something when I'm not doing it? That was a move that I didn't like that feeling. And I honestly, I'm still going through it. I don't have all the answers. I, I don't. You could say, you know. You shouldn't have that guilt. You, you know, you're you're creating jobs, I guess.

00:36:47:20 - 00:37:06:05
Speaker 3
But. And that, you know, I just I don't have that answer just yet. I'm still searching. Yeah. You're not feeling guilty for not, you know, for taking that vacation for not for not feeling guilty for watching trash television, you know, and you should be productive. You know what I mean? So I don't have to answer.

00:37:06:09 - 00:37:26:04
Speaker 1
Yeah. You remind me of, like, when I was in service, that used to kind of be a thing. Also used to, especially as the as the boss used to say, we work really long hours in service services, like, culturally what it is, you know, like 12, 14 hour days pretty, pretty regularly. Just very culturally that way.

00:37:26:06 - 00:37:44:16
Speaker 1
And I had, in the service, you're always given this right hand person. So for me, his right hand man is like the technical report to you, but they're seasoned in their years are beyond their years. So they're they're really also to kind of coach you, while they're kind of helping you be the very best leader you can be.

00:37:44:18 - 00:38:02:09
Speaker 1
And I remember, a piece of advice that came down the pipe, it was like, hey, it's okay if you're hanging out here for like, you know, you're here to 7 or 8 at night working on stuff, but, like, do me a favor at 530 or 6, can you leave the parking, like, get in your car and drive away?

00:38:02:09 - 00:38:23:18
Speaker 1
Even if it's just you're going to take a block so the boys know it's okay for them to leave and then they leave, and then you can come back later in work. And when I realize in that moment is that, I guess as a leader, you're not only leading people by working and grinding, but you're also like trying to show them it's okay to be a human, to.

00:38:23:20 - 00:38:40:21
Speaker 1
And I'm not saying that any of us have it figured out, but I think, as you're saying, that it got me thinking about, worlds where it's weird. It's like if one of our teammates came to us and something tragic happened in their life, we would want them to go take care of that. Yeah, we'd want them to go take a break and whatever, but we don't want to give ourselves that permission to go do those things.

00:38:40:23 - 00:38:42:10
Speaker 1
It's kind of a twisted thing, right?

00:38:42:10 - 00:38:45:01
Speaker 3
Yes, yes, and that's what I'm still trying to figure out.

00:38:45:07 - 00:38:47:00
Speaker 2
Yeah. I think it's.

00:38:47:00 - 00:38:48:11
Speaker 3
Normal to give myself that grace.

00:38:48:14 - 00:39:11:12
Speaker 1
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Do I think it's normal? And I think it's like it's kind of a I think it comes from a good place, but it's like the, the process of working through that takes a little bit of time. Yeah. No, I think that's the that's the balance point. Anytime we kind of talk to folks are looking at getting into owning their own thing, it's like ahead of time trying to create those boundaries.

00:39:11:14 - 00:39:16:15
Speaker 1
You're not going to get it right the first time or right out the gate. It sounds like you're it's still a learning process.

00:39:16:19 - 00:39:18:09
Speaker 3
12 years later. Yeah.

00:39:18:11 - 00:39:20:19
Speaker 2
It's still kind of honing it in. Oh yeah.

00:39:20:22 - 00:39:33:05
Speaker 1
Oh my goodness. But yeah. No I think that's, ownership. Such a human process. So you get get kind of through that year what clicked back for you to obviously sounds like you're kind of got your head back in the game, so.

00:39:33:05 - 00:39:34:17
Speaker 2
Oh yeah. What changed.

00:39:34:20 - 00:39:35:08
Speaker 3
I'm all.

00:39:35:08 - 00:39:37:21
Speaker 1
In. Was it just like, come on, Caylee or what happened.

00:39:37:21 - 00:39:40:02
Speaker 3
Yeah. Let's. Yeah. Go there.

00:39:40:02 - 00:39:41:10
Speaker 2
Let's go. Yeah.

00:39:41:10 - 00:40:07:22
Speaker 3
This you got this. You know, it's just giving yourself that encouragement. The people you surround yourself. I have such a good core group of people around me. It's I mean, it's beautiful. People are rooting for me, you know? Yeah. And, I think that, you know, mental health and physical health. Then, I started I started to hyperfocus instead of micromanaging.

00:40:08:03 - 00:40:31:03
Speaker 3
So hyper focusing on me to make sure that I was okay to be that good leader. And I'm still learning how to lead. I didn't I didn't sign up for this. And and this is unintentional. I have, like, this team behind you now. Now you have all these people coming to you and, you know, and I'm giving them my everything that I know and what I learned and I'm giving I'm giving them everything.

00:40:31:03 - 00:40:54:22
Speaker 3
And I wasn't doing anything for myself. And now I've created that balance of making sure that I'm healthy and I have this beautiful, you know, sleep ritual now. And, a routine to make sure that I'm healthy and whenever and I'm feeling it and I'm able to project that and give, give that back and and I had this one team member actually, yesterday.

00:40:55:00 - 00:41:12:11
Speaker 3
I want to work more. You know, I don't want breaks and I don't want of lunch. And I just want to treat clients and before I mean, that's a that's Katie and I did we did that. We had our head down here grinding. Yeah. And before I would have been okay with that, but but because of that it led to burnout.

00:41:12:11 - 00:41:30:09
Speaker 3
And now I want to protect her. And you know, I have these blocks on their schedule that says, go outside, look up at the sun and take a deep breath and words of encouragement. And, you know, just some things that I think everyone wants to hear, including myself, you know? And yeah.

00:41:30:10 - 00:41:31:02
Speaker 2
So does it.

00:41:31:02 - 00:41:34:19
Speaker 1
Click like, did it click with her? Did she or is she kind of still kind of working through.

00:41:34:19 - 00:41:47:10
Speaker 3
Oh no no it clicked okay. Of course it clicked. So I mean she was still working through not having that lunch break, but she understood what, taking a breath mint. Yeah. So a.

00:41:47:10 - 00:41:52:00
Speaker 2
Breath mint. Yeah. That also is a helpful thing to have a breath.

00:41:52:01 - 00:41:52:21
Speaker 1
Mint here to make sure.

00:41:52:21 - 00:41:56:11
Speaker 2
That you're like, not I don't know how close you are to the folks there.

00:41:56:12 - 00:42:12:01
Speaker 1
So you got speaking of time away and just kind of taking moments to breathe. Earlier we were talking about like how important it is for you to get outdoors and get the behind the sights of a gun, jump out of an airplane. Can you talk to me about it? Sounds like those are in the vein of, like, how Kaylee takes care of herself.

00:42:12:01 - 00:42:12:12
Speaker 3
That's right.

00:42:12:18 - 00:42:18:15
Speaker 1
Talk to me about those rituals that you do. Like. What are those things and why are they like, what do you get from them?

00:42:18:17 - 00:42:33:11
Speaker 3
So making making time for myself out in nature, taking off my shoes and filling the grass and looking up in the sun. And I mean with the weekly rituals, I mean, that's just I like strict,

00:42:33:13 - 00:42:34:15
Speaker 1
Yeah. You gotta get ready.

00:42:34:15 - 00:42:55:05
Speaker 3
Yeah, I like regimens. Yeah. But my brain doesn't stop, and I haven't figured out how to stop that just yet. But what I did figure out is how to stop it in that time. In the in the time is when I'm behind the trigger, when I'm jumping out of that plane, is. That's when you slow down and and that's why I like to do it.

00:42:55:07 - 00:43:00:09
Speaker 1
Did you how did you come across those things. Like did you get I mean, was it accident or like what happened. Oh so 100.

00:43:00:09 - 00:43:00:21
Speaker 3
Percent it.

00:43:00:23 - 00:43:02:09
Speaker 2
Was it of course, like.

00:43:02:09 - 00:43:08:16
Speaker 1
I had you getting this was the first thing shooting. Hunting. How did that. Sure.

00:43:08:18 - 00:43:30:21
Speaker 3
I don't know. About ten years ago, my buddy took me hog on thing, and I would just sit in the barn and, like, look through this scope and take a breath and pull the trigger. And I did, and I was like, wow, it's fine. Let's do one of the pigs come back, you know? So just being exposed to it and realizing that I liked it.

00:43:30:21 - 00:43:42:11
Speaker 3
And so then I started shooting more often, and, I wanted to be better at it and kept doing it in quarantine. I taught myself archery.

00:43:42:13 - 00:43:44:19
Speaker 2
Did, I did, yeah.

00:43:44:19 - 00:43:59:03
Speaker 3
I went down to, archery country and bought a bow. And they're great guys over there. Oh, yeah, I know, but, yeah, they hooked me up. And as soon as I, as soon as I got my bow, they had me out the door, slings and arrows.

00:43:59:03 - 00:44:01:20
Speaker 2
And I was like, this is cool. It's good. Let's keep that going.

00:44:02:01 - 00:44:04:21
Speaker 3
Yeah. So, yeah, just doing cool stuff.

00:44:04:22 - 00:44:15:17
Speaker 1
So you got exposed to it and obviously hooked on to the world. It's not a hunting show yet, but like I say, yeah, because there's always, like, if it was up to me, I could talk.

00:44:15:18 - 00:44:16:03
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:44:16:03 - 00:44:37:06
Speaker 1
At least half the time about that. When it comes to archery, I know for those maybe that have shot, maybe it's more common, less people I think have gotten behind a bow. What what is the big difference there? Because what I will say is that folks who get in a bow hunting, it becomes like a new level of focus and precision in those things.

00:44:37:06 - 00:44:39:16
Speaker 1
Is that what you find out of it? It's different than shooting.

00:44:39:18 - 00:44:58:06
Speaker 3
Oh, absolutely. I like it. Well, yeah, I like the little bit more of a challenge. You know, I haven't done too much bow hunting. I just like to go out and sing. Sing arrows? Yeah. It's not in a tree for a week. And that was interesting. I didn't shoot anything, but I learned a lot about myself.

00:44:58:06 - 00:44:59:12
Speaker 3
Yeah.

00:44:59:14 - 00:45:02:06
Speaker 1
You mean, like, live in a tree blind and wait for something to come through?

00:45:02:06 - 00:45:02:16
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.

00:45:02:16 - 00:45:16:02
Speaker 3
For a week on public land in Texas? Yeah. So, but, yeah, I think it's just being out there, being present. You have to be present. Like listening and feeling and and. Yeah.

00:45:16:04 - 00:45:23:08
Speaker 1
So yeah, you can't like, be distracted. And then same thing for for jumping out of planes. Same feeling that you get same focus.

00:45:23:08 - 00:45:25:03
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. It's the same focus. Absolutely.

00:45:25:03 - 00:45:28:00
Speaker 1
Yes. Different. And you see that that too. So how did you get into that.

00:45:28:01 - 00:45:44:18
Speaker 3
You know I think it's just one of those things where you do it when you're you do it once, like for fun, a group of friends want to do it together or maybe just that one friend. And then I realize I like it and that's and that's slowing down and being scared, going all the way up. And then.

00:45:44:18 - 00:45:48:08
Speaker 3
Yeah. And then being peace. Just like soaring through the sky.

00:45:48:10 - 00:45:49:08
Speaker 2
Yeah, I like it.

00:45:49:08 - 00:46:01:06
Speaker 1
It's kind of a metaphor for life, right. Like that, that go in the air for the anticipation is the worst part about the whole thing. Yeah. And then literally the thing that actually will kill you potentially, if you don't, if you do it wrong is the period that's the most peaceful.

00:46:01:09 - 00:46:02:12
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah.

00:46:02:12 - 00:46:04:23
Speaker 3
Why is that I have yeah.

00:46:05:01 - 00:46:13:10
Speaker 1
It's almost like because you have, you have like, you almost have to let go. Like there's nothing that can happen. You can't, you get a parachute on your backs and that'll work.

00:46:13:12 - 00:46:16:13
Speaker 2
Yeah. Or shit. Yeah. But.

00:46:16:13 - 00:46:34:14
Speaker 1
Outside of that, especially for I find a lot of owners are, we're all control freaks. And so in a way that almost, like, robs off of his own any ability to control the air, you know, around us. But it is peaceful. Yeah, it is peaceful coming through that. So take me to, like, where the world is for you today.

00:46:34:14 - 00:46:50:08
Speaker 1
So you get your locations. Your. The business is running heads back in the game and all this stuff go. And it sounds like now you got folks that are interested in this business that you've created. To the extent that you want, like, talk about what that world looks like right now and what's going through Kaylee's mind on all that.

00:46:50:08 - 00:46:50:22
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:46:50:22 - 00:46:58:01
Speaker 3
So, I mean, when I was in the middle of burning it down, that's when I opened up the conversation to selling the business.

00:46:58:01 - 00:46:58:14
Speaker 2
Okay.

00:46:58:16 - 00:47:02:00
Speaker 3
And.

00:47:02:02 - 00:47:06:00
Speaker 3
I didn't want it anymore. You know, I, I bought that van. I was about to go off grid, and now.

00:47:06:05 - 00:47:06:14
Speaker 2
I can.

00:47:06:14 - 00:47:10:07
Speaker 3
Just, And that's my dream.

00:47:11:08 - 00:47:26:22
Speaker 3
No, but now. Now it's like this particular situation, by the way, is not just to sell the business. They suck, and they want they want to partner with me. And so that's what we're in negotiation. Well, you know.

00:47:27:03 - 00:47:28:21
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's.

00:47:28:21 - 00:47:56:10
Speaker 3
What we're in negotiations with it just. Yeah. And so it's it's either I have two options. Either I could in this particular deal, I could continue to have the business just like it is and, and grow on the same directory as I was. Yeah. Or I could partner and, maybe 51% to me, and we can go to 150 locations and then eventually sell.

00:47:56:12 - 00:48:19:18
Speaker 3
So that's, that's what I'm having to think through right now. I have so and that's, that's me is kind of fun. That idea is kind of fun because you're right. I'm, I'm not going to sell and not do anything. I'm going. I would drive myself crazier. People around me crazy. I think that would be a good next challenge.

00:48:19:20 - 00:48:28:12
Speaker 3
Like that. Something. Something fun, something new. Something that I'm going to learn. You know, I could learn from these people. And that's interesting to me.

00:48:28:15 - 00:48:41:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. What are the things that maybe keep you up at night? Maybe it is the counterbalance that there's a lot of excitement about growing, learning something new, but it sounds like there might be. I would imagine there's a counterbalance to that.

00:48:41:20 - 00:48:44:01
Speaker 3
Giving up 49% of my company.

00:48:44:03 - 00:48:45:06
Speaker 1
The 100%. Your baby.

00:48:45:06 - 00:48:46:18
Speaker 2
Now. Yeah, exactly.

00:48:46:18 - 00:48:50:00
Speaker 1
Yeah. What are the things that go through your mind about that?

00:48:50:02 - 00:48:51:21
Speaker 3
You know.

00:48:51:23 - 00:48:53:23
Speaker 1
The control thing? Maybe.

00:48:54:01 - 00:48:58:11
Speaker 3
I would like to think that.

00:48:58:13 - 00:49:01:19
Speaker 2
I can't say that. It's kind of,

00:49:01:21 - 00:49:24:02
Speaker 3
But. No, you know, I went in the training process. I'm still. I'm still a little hands on, I still want to create this beautiful team that leads with heart. And, you know, I could talk all this, but at the end of the day, I started the business to help people. Yeah. So I don't want to lose that.

00:49:24:03 - 00:49:46:00
Speaker 1
Actually, that's where Caylee sure started there. I mean, what is I imagine someone then grind as much as you do and build this, hardship fund family, you know, on hold however you want to look at those things. If you weren't doing it for more than just the money, like, what is the day to day that keeps you, whether it was 12 years ago or even today?

00:49:46:00 - 00:49:49:14
Speaker 1
Is there something that about the helping people that stayed constant?

00:49:49:16 - 00:50:15:23
Speaker 3
Oh yeah, I, I feel it every day. I want to I want to make sure my team is healthy. I want to make sure that they're off, that they're providing good quality service. Yeah. It's always in the forefront is making sure that we as a whole, are just helping people and for the right reasons. Yeah. Not selling someone a service, just, you know, capitalize on it.

00:50:15:23 - 00:50:37:15
Speaker 3
But to help them for a skin care concern that they have. And, you know, for someone that doesn't. I do want to say this. Lee, laser hair removal might not seem like it could be. What? The words, significant.

00:50:37:17 - 00:50:40:07
Speaker 1
Yeah. Like, Oh. This is going to change.

00:50:40:09 - 00:50:42:23
Speaker 2
Right? The world or whatever. Right? Yeah.

00:50:43:02 - 00:51:04:18
Speaker 3
But when you're having those clients come in here and say thank you so much, I feel more confident now that I don't have this mustache. Yeah. Now that I don't have a unibrow, my kids not getting picked on anymore. I don't have a razor burn. Whenever I'm in a bikini, I, you know, I can take off that sarong or my shorts, you know, and feel confident, so.

00:51:04:19 - 00:51:18:12
Speaker 3
Or, you know, we actually, we treat a lot of the trans community feeling confident in their own skin, creating a safe space. So that's it really does like, we are making a difference. And in that.

00:51:18:14 - 00:51:40:04
Speaker 1
You're saying like the, the even the small, right? I mean, tell me if I'm picking it up right or not, but like you're saying, even those what we would consider is like a small or maybe insignificant win is a big deal to that one human. Yeah. Now. Exactly right. Get into their workplace and feel good, or enjoy a vacation like the way they should, whatever it might be.

00:51:40:04 - 00:51:46:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. And in that way, it's more than just laser removal. It's a giving folks a new way to walk into the door.

00:51:46:03 - 00:51:56:18
Speaker 3
That's right. Another thing that I would like for you to think about is, you know, we also do tattoo removal. Imagine, like being a kid and.

00:51:56:20 - 00:51:59:02
Speaker 2
You know.

00:51:59:04 - 00:52:01:15
Speaker 1
Getting some kind of travel. You didn't mean to.

00:52:01:17 - 00:52:02:14
Speaker 2
Some.

00:52:02:16 - 00:52:18:02
Speaker 1
Chinese characters that mean something different that you mean, again, I get that a lot. Yeah. They. Oh, yeah, that happens in military all the time. The guys like, look at my new like, Chinese characters. It says warrior. And then someone who's typically, you said one Chinese guy or reads Chinese in the like, that's his idiot. And exactly.

00:52:18:04 - 00:52:20:22
Speaker 2
Exactly. I've got you know.

00:52:21:00 - 00:52:40:13
Speaker 3
And that's exactly right. But even even beyond that, it's, you know, we I treat actually a lot of people that were in prison who had to join a gang who had gang affiliated tattoos on their face. Wow. That we can remove in order to get them back into society. And like those little those little things like that.

00:52:40:16 - 00:52:41:13
Speaker 1
Well, that's a big deal.

00:52:41:13 - 00:52:43:08
Speaker 3
It's a huge. Yeah.

00:52:43:10 - 00:52:51:20
Speaker 1
How huge? Just as a quick rabbit trail your how long I don't know say like how long is it a one and down or you got to come in for multiple treatments.

00:52:51:21 - 00:52:57:00
Speaker 3
I wish it was one and done. I really, really do. It's it's such a it's a painful process.

00:52:57:00 - 00:52:58:01
Speaker 1
I was going to say it does not.

00:52:58:04 - 00:53:09:15
Speaker 3
It's not easy. It's not easy. Yeah. The technology has gotten better, but, I mean, back in the day, I mean, I was lasering tattoos. It would take 30, 30 treatments. 30 plus treatments.

00:53:09:15 - 00:53:10:01
Speaker 1
Oh, my.

00:53:10:01 - 00:53:14:03
Speaker 3
Gosh. Now we've got it down to like 18 to 12, but I mean 8 to 12.

00:53:14:03 - 00:53:14:20
Speaker 1
But yeah.

00:53:14:20 - 00:53:16:01
Speaker 2
But still still.

00:53:16:03 - 00:53:19:00
Speaker 1
What I mean it's it's like zapping the ink out.

00:53:19:22 - 00:53:24:21
Speaker 3
Yeah. It's just it's breaking down the ink and you excrete it through your waste system.

00:53:25:03 - 00:53:26:10
Speaker 2
Wow.

00:53:26:12 - 00:53:32:02
Speaker 1
It's so fast. And it when, when folks are done can you tell there was, there is usually something left behind.

00:53:32:04 - 00:53:50:20
Speaker 3
Yeah. There's I mean you don't actually ever totally get rid of the ink. It just we're just breaking it up to particles where you can't see about the human eye. So yeah, there's some we call them ghost tattoos. You can tell there was something there if you look really close. Yeah. But for the most part, we were getting pretty good clearance.

00:53:50:20 - 00:53:51:09
Speaker 2
Wow.

00:53:51:11 - 00:53:57:06
Speaker 1
That's that's another thing you had. That's like a whole different set of equipment and stuff to them from other stuff that you were using.

00:53:57:07 - 00:53:58:14
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah.

00:53:58:16 - 00:54:13:14
Speaker 1
Like, is it all. It seems extremely personal. The services like these are not just like your clients, but I mean, it's doing stuff to their body that, it's going to transform or re transform kind of what the skin looks like.

00:54:13:18 - 00:54:14:08
Speaker 3
That's right.

00:54:14:08 - 00:54:19:22
Speaker 1
How do you stay confident with making sure that delivers every single time.

00:54:20:00 - 00:54:46:18
Speaker 3
So I in the last year it hasn't always been like it has not been like this, but I really, really I try my hardest to always make sure that you have one laser professional that is sick with the entire time, okay. And we just went through every staffing. So that is been that's it's been very hard on me because I know what that looks like.

00:54:46:18 - 00:54:54:04
Speaker 3
I mean, we're, we're lasering very intimate parts where we're lasering, you know, people who.

00:54:54:06 - 00:54:54:23
Speaker 2
Are.

00:54:55:04 - 00:55:23:21
Speaker 3
You know, introverts or that don't feel safe and, you know, being treated by multiple people. So that's that's been a learning lesson to is so what I have been doing is creating this beautiful form, you know, walking into your office. It's so fun. You have a kitchen with food and all your all your everyone here seems so happy and fun and and that's the kind of environments that I want, you know, creating more of, like longevity.

00:55:24:01 - 00:55:41:21
Speaker 3
This isn't not creating more courses. You know, I want people who want to work here. I want them to say that awesome laser solutions is the best place. And and here's why. And that's why, you know, I'm rebuilding myself and my team and and yeah, going from there.

00:55:41:23 - 00:55:52:23
Speaker 1
Is there a world where Kayla decides, you know what, I'm just going to keep doing this thing the way I've been doing it. Like kind of one step or one location at a time.

00:55:53:04 - 00:56:16:08
Speaker 3
Oh yeah. I've, I've thought about that several times. I mean, life is good, man. It really is. And, I'm really, really happy. I could hyperfocus on being better at, you know, my hobbies and, you know, not not pissing off my team, but micromanage thing. But, yes, I mean, it's. Yes, absolutely. I thought I thought about both.

00:56:16:08 - 00:56:19:08
Speaker 3
And I'm still deciding what I want to do. Yeah.

00:56:19:08 - 00:56:34:14
Speaker 1
To today I give you, if it's if it's all right with you, I'll give you this. Like, I didn't know what to do with the bit of it like this inside I got earlier in my career. Now it's start. Make way more sense. There was a gentleman that was kind of like a. He was a business mentor for me.

00:56:34:14 - 00:56:55:15
Speaker 1
And I was working for him at the time. And, one day we were traveling and I asked him, we're talking about owners and founders and CEOs. And, I started to learn. I had just gotten out of the service, and I started to learn a little bit that like, oh, not all these, not all these businesses, of course, are not the same, but they all require different things.

00:56:55:15 - 00:57:18:20
Speaker 1
Big companies, small companies, medium companies, depending what industry. So when I was sitting there, I think it was like a layover. I asked him, I said, who are the happiest like CEOs and owners, you know, and he goes, oh, I'll tell you. He goes, it's easy. He goes, it's the ones that he goes. It's the ones that do.

00:57:18:22 - 00:57:45:13
Speaker 1
He says the ones that have like, I don't know, a few million or more in revenue a year, maybe even 12 or 13, because that's fine, because it's less about the money goes. It's actually just about like their operations. It's all something they can kind of hug very easy. It's stuff that they've grown kind of low and slow, and it's become something now that that's like so ingrained in their DNA because they just have so much time for life now that they can kind of balance both their like making meaningful dent with their team.

00:57:45:13 - 00:58:02:12
Speaker 1
And they're also like they're changing their lives. And they're also he goes, man, every time he's he's calling out a couple friends of his that do that. He has their you know, they always take the family vacation. They always go in there for the kids game. They're always on a hunting trip. They never say no to anything because they can make that time work.

00:58:02:14 - 00:58:19:03
Speaker 1
And I was like, who has the hardest time? He goes, oh, it's the it goes. A lot of times the bigger you grow, it's just a different set of things and it requires more of your time. I guess. And then he actually mentioned the turnaround folks too. Yeah. The turnaround folks is like a hybrid. Like they come into these failing companies, they turn them around.

00:58:19:08 - 00:58:35:21
Speaker 1
It's exhausting because it's just like a bunch of just really hard stuff they have to do. And then they usually disappear for a year, and then they come back to life, and then they do it over again. I say all that to say that I don't know that any of them is right or wrong, but I remember that conversation, that being one that kind of stayed with me.

00:58:35:21 - 00:58:51:13
Speaker 1
And it's funny, now that I'm sitting where I'm at now, talking to owners who have kind of more of that. And it's weird because I think it's so human for us to kind of always look at, like, who's looking at every summit and being like, that's pretty cool. But maybe the guy or the gal having the most fun is just the one that's kind of doing the local mountain every day.

00:58:51:14 - 00:58:53:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. You know, I don't know if that makes any sense.

00:58:53:18 - 00:58:54:20
Speaker 2
Oh it.

00:58:54:20 - 00:59:14:05
Speaker 3
Does. Yeah, exactly. I think that's I think that's something that I'm going to sit with and help me decide what I want to do. Do I want that, you know, I am single. I don't have children. I have the grit. I have the grind. And I know I can I can build this thing, I know it, but what is it?

00:59:14:11 - 00:59:27:19
Speaker 3
Where does that put me in life? Like. And, you know, enjoying the those moments of slowing down. Yeah. Do I want to continue this grind grind for the next 5 to 10 years, or do I want to slow down and start a family?

00:59:27:21 - 00:59:45:19
Speaker 1
So yeah, no, I think those are all like things that they're not, like relevant until like something happens and then it kind of like jolts the system or whatever it might be, and maybe even like what you were saying about the here's my current location as what is the word you use? It was great. It was like the great way you put it.

00:59:45:19 - 00:59:58:20
Speaker 1
It was like efficient. But like, am I optimizing this pace the best oftentimes to think about our lives is like, okay, we got we always thing is, as our as operators, we think of like, the business as like a big chunk of the pie.

00:59:59:17 - 01:00:18:15
Speaker 1
But then it's like, well, if I did all this stuff, then I could expand that chunk of the pie. But then we almost forget that, like when my being a really great friend and also being a really great, you know, husband, wife, son, whatever those things are. And I think it is not necessarily in our DNA to think that, that it's like not being productive on vacation.

01:00:18:17 - 01:00:19:05
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know.

01:00:19:05 - 01:00:29:23
Speaker 1
It's kind of a weird thing to say out loud, but it is something that I wonder does sometimes that growth gets you into a spot where, like, you're the continue to sacrifice these other things.

01:00:30:01 - 01:00:35:06
Speaker 3
I, I did, set a boundary on vacation. I'm not allowed to work, I just did. Oh, you.

01:00:35:06 - 01:00:35:18
Speaker 1
Did do that.

01:00:35:18 - 01:00:36:05
Speaker 3
I did do.

01:00:36:05 - 01:00:37:03
Speaker 1
That. Okay.

01:00:37:05 - 01:00:43:22
Speaker 3
But I was like, before. Before I can have fun. I got to go work out. I mean, there's always going to be something, you know?

01:00:44:00 - 01:00:46:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. This is like, you.

01:00:46:13 - 01:01:05:03
Speaker 1
Got to know yourself, right? Like, I think, man, I mean, without the I. The counterpoint is like, without folks like you, there wouldn't be businesses to work for, you know? So it's like the it requires this kind of intensity to kind of build the thing. Yeah, I know, I don't know, I don't know that I got the right answer either.

01:01:05:03 - 01:01:22:07
Speaker 1
I just have made observations over time as I've watched folks that seem to be happy and content, maybe content like they're content with what they're doing. There's like this balance they like still work hard, and people all around them would say, that person is driven, hard worker.

01:01:22:09 - 01:01:29:10
Speaker 3
That's what I'm working on. That feeling of it's okay to feel content. I don't I'm not I'm not able to sit with that.

01:01:29:12 - 01:01:30:21
Speaker 2
I can't be content.

01:01:30:23 - 01:01:34:03
Speaker 1
I want to do more. I gotta go get something.

01:01:34:06 - 01:01:36:11
Speaker 3
Even sitting here with my legs crossed and.

01:01:36:13 - 01:01:37:11
Speaker 2
I'm like, I.

01:01:37:11 - 01:01:38:21
Speaker 3
Want, I want to talk about this.

01:01:38:21 - 01:01:42:13
Speaker 2
And now I'm like, I'm happy. But you can't. You,

01:01:42:15 - 01:01:48:14
Speaker 3
But yeah, because I have so much passion and drive and it's it fuels me. It makes me feel good.

01:01:48:17 - 01:01:49:16
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:01:49:18 - 01:02:09:04
Speaker 1
What is the I mean, we're coming up, man. That hour went by fast. Okay, so that maybe two last thoughts for me. One is, one is kind of like Tana bow in the, in the thing that we just talked about as you're kind of discerning and making that decision, maybe for folks that are listening out there who are thinking, yeah, that's my goal.

01:02:09:04 - 01:02:23:23
Speaker 1
One day to get something, build something, and then maybe sell it or something like that, or at least part of it. Is there if they were trying to buy all of it, would you be less interested?

01:02:24:01 - 01:02:25:06
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:02:25:08 - 01:02:26:07
Speaker 3
I don't think so.

01:02:26:12 - 01:02:28:08
Speaker 1
Okay. Still on the table?

01:02:28:10 - 01:02:29:11
Speaker 3
Still on the table?

01:02:29:13 - 01:02:31:11
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:02:31:13 - 01:02:36:08
Speaker 3
I think that.

01:02:36:10 - 01:02:47:23
Speaker 3
If they were trying to buy all of it. Well, it's a little. So these, these, these group of guys, I've kind of vetted them and who they are as a person.

01:02:47:23 - 01:02:48:13
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:02:48:15 - 01:02:50:05
Speaker 3
You would love them. I mean.

01:02:50:07 - 01:02:52:18
Speaker 2
They're one of them, you know what I'm saying? Oh yeah. Okay. No.

01:02:52:21 - 01:02:59:02
Speaker 3
Exactly. They're good. All boys, they live out in Lakeway. I mean, they yeah. Love them. Good heart.

01:02:59:04 - 01:02:59:19
Speaker 2
I, I.

01:02:59:19 - 01:03:11:09
Speaker 3
Vetted them I mean, I called several of their, businesses. They've acquired and. Yeah. And just that all spoke so highly of this that these groups this year.

01:03:11:10 - 01:03:12:15
Speaker 1
So the references checked out.

01:03:12:15 - 01:03:21:20
Speaker 3
Holy. Yeah. Yeah. So I know that whatever I do, the integrity of the business will stay intact.

01:03:21:23 - 01:03:23:07
Speaker 2
Yeah, I have that.

01:03:23:09 - 01:03:25:18
Speaker 3
I have that true gut feeling. So.

01:03:25:20 - 01:03:33:22
Speaker 1
Okay, so you're there so that I mean, that's a good helpful too, as a reference check is. Oh, okay. Just don't look at the dollar sign. Right. Go look at who are these people.

01:03:33:22 - 01:03:45:12
Speaker 3
Yeah, I was gonna say, who cares about that dollar sign? Yes, yes, it doesn't matter. I mean, you does matter, I guess, but, I care about, you know, a little bit more than that.

01:03:45:14 - 01:03:59:07
Speaker 1
Yeah. No, I can appreciate that. I think there's a lot of, How do you. Okay, well, while we're, like, while we're on there, like, how do you know? I guess it's what folks say about the folks. I bet you it's also just picking up on folks character.

01:03:59:09 - 01:04:00:11
Speaker 3
Right? That's exactly how.

01:04:00:11 - 01:04:03:15
Speaker 1
You tell someone trying to smooth talk. Yeah, and they're saying the right things, but they agree.

01:04:03:16 - 01:04:11:17
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, listen, a woman that has worked 50% of her life in the service industry, I can read bullshit.

01:04:11:21 - 01:04:15:00
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. You learn.

01:04:15:02 - 01:04:30:22
Speaker 3
I learned real quick. Yeah. Same thing with, you know, creating a team. You just, you know, you know who who leads with heart. And that's that's these guys right here. So I honestly can't go wrong. I could I that's the.

01:04:30:22 - 01:04:31:15
Speaker 2
Best part.

01:04:31:15 - 01:04:32:15
Speaker 1
Winning either way.

01:04:32:17 - 01:04:36:15
Speaker 3
That's the best part about where I'm at in life right now. I can't go wrong.

01:04:36:15 - 01:04:56:01
Speaker 1
Yeah I think it's what's good. I don't know, just sitting here. I'll tell you. Like the observation. I made. Is that like, it's how you did it, like I think I think of your business, just. I think if you had not taken the time to master, to build, to find the right people, all the things that are not fancy but really involved, I think.

01:04:56:01 - 01:05:14:08
Speaker 1
Had you not done that, I'm looking at a business that maybe folks are not that interested in, or maybe not as interested in, but just because, like Haley did all this like, it's the hard stuff. It's like hard discipline, all this things that you've had to do. Well, now it's an attractive business, but it isn't like, oh, because of the industry you picked or whatever.

01:05:14:08 - 01:05:18:19
Speaker 1
It's because, like the sum of all those parts and how you put it together like matters.

01:05:18:21 - 01:05:19:16
Speaker 3
Right?

01:05:19:18 - 01:05:39:06
Speaker 1
What would I guess the kind of like, noted like to end on as, like folks that are out there right now thinking of, I don't know, maybe they're sitting in their cubicle somewhere in high rise and they're trying to figure out, like, do I want to get into this life or not? And if I do, like, what's the right way to go about doing it, like any thought you'd give those folks either words of encouragement or otherwise?

01:05:39:08 - 01:05:55:02
Speaker 3
Yes, I think that go get out of your comfort zone. If, if if you're an introvert and and you don't want to meet the you don't want to meet a stranger. Yeah. Do it. Do it.

01:05:55:04 - 01:05:57:04
Speaker 2
If that's the word. Yeah. Exactly.

01:05:57:06 - 01:06:03:23
Speaker 3
Exactly. If that's the worst thing that you can think of, then this is probably not it for you.

01:06:04:01 - 01:06:04:21
Speaker 2
But.

01:06:04:23 - 01:06:14:11
Speaker 3
Yeah, get out of your comfort zone. Go network, go meet people, ask questions, be curious. I'm very curious. I want to interview you.

01:06:14:13 - 01:06:15:14
Speaker 2
I get another.

01:06:15:16 - 01:06:16:08
Speaker 1
Chance to get.

01:06:16:08 - 01:06:18:09
Speaker 2
Rolling around.

01:06:18:11 - 01:06:42:08
Speaker 3
No. Yeah. So I, I think that how I'm growing and scaling and is because every person that sat on that treatment bed, I ask questions. You I got to know them. And so, yeah, just networking, getting out of your comfort zone, taking that risk, but making sure that you're not going to put yourself in a bad position.

01:06:42:09 - 01:06:43:09
Speaker 2
The farm.

01:06:43:11 - 01:06:44:10
Speaker 1
Yeah. I don't bet the farm.

01:06:44:10 - 01:06:47:01
Speaker 2
Yeah. Don't bet the farm.

01:06:47:03 - 01:06:54:11
Speaker 3
So yeah, that's what I would that's the advice that I would give is just meet people, be curious and and take the calculated risk.

01:06:54:17 - 01:07:18:15
Speaker 1
Yeah. Okay. A lot of it. I think I'll say this. I think you're a shining example of somebody who's because you strike me as kind of almost like a reluctant owner, like you've built this thing that is, like, badass. It's human. It's obviously folks are interested. Like, you don't get to knock on your door to go buy your business because you built something that's garbage, like it means something.

01:07:18:17 - 01:07:32:21
Speaker 1
At the same time, you strike me as just somebody who's like, you hear this big? We hear big conversation, this role all the time about strategy and comps and financials and all this stuff. And you strike me as like, I built this thing at one block at a time.

01:07:32:21 - 01:07:33:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly.

01:07:33:21 - 01:07:40:11
Speaker 1
It's just like, what's the next thing to do? This thing. What's the next thing to do? That thing. How do I do it without betting the farm. But take enough risk to test.

01:07:40:17 - 01:07:41:15
Speaker 3
That's right.

01:07:41:17 - 01:07:42:06
Speaker 2
Yeah.

01:07:42:08 - 01:08:06:02
Speaker 3
And, you know someone, you know, of course they're going to ask me. This is not. This is not the first firm that has, wanted to to make a deal, but. Yeah. Who your competitors. To this day, I still don't know who my competitors are. My me? I'm my own competitor. My head down, I'm grinding. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, you know?

01:08:06:03 - 01:08:16:13
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I'm still, you know, getting into, like, the business side of it and learning and, I love I love collecting data. This is ordering. It's collecting like I'm.

01:08:16:13 - 01:08:20:10
Speaker 2
Oh, I see, I'm getting some data. Collecting data. You know.

01:08:20:10 - 01:08:48:05
Speaker 3
I'm, I'm really getting into, like, biohacking right now. And so that's what I'm, I hyper focus on something now. It's like my own how to optimize my body and my brain so I can grow the business. But yeah. So, so just hacking the hacking the business, it's fun. Whenever you have another entrepreneur come in, come into your treatment room and, and they'll have this conversation because they'll know how long they've, how long they were waiting or how long we were treating them.

01:08:48:06 - 01:08:53:22
Speaker 3
And I always have someone up, you know, in the lobby and how much they paid me. And so there's always like.

01:08:53:22 - 01:08:54:18
Speaker 1
They can start.

01:08:54:20 - 01:09:08:13
Speaker 3
We'll start to start turning and wanting to do something with me. And I loved being a one woman show for a really long time. And now it's like, do I want to escalate that or do I want to just keep moving?

01:09:08:16 - 01:09:16:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, keep doing this. And well, I think you said it right. Like you can't lose it. And these are all like, are they all like p shops or are they a mix of different people.

01:09:16:03 - 01:09:17:19
Speaker 3
And just a mix of different people.

01:09:18:04 - 01:09:19:12
Speaker 1
Family offices and stuff?

01:09:19:12 - 01:09:20:12
Speaker 3
That's exactly right.

01:09:20:12 - 01:09:21:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.

01:09:21:18 - 01:09:31:22
Speaker 1
Way to go. I mean, congrats, Kayla. Either way. I mean, like and I think, you know, I think you're right. I don't think you can go wrong. And I think whatever you do, it sounds like trust in your gut.

01:09:31:22 - 01:09:32:10
Speaker 3
That's right.

01:09:32:14 - 01:09:40:02
Speaker 1
Has been the key to success. So there's no doubt mom and the rest of your family be proud of what you've done. So thanks for coming on today.

01:09:40:04 - 01:09:41:00
Speaker 2
And thank you.

01:09:41:02 - 01:09:42:00
Speaker 3
For having me. It's so.

01:09:42:00 - 01:09:42:15
Speaker 2
Fun.

01:09:42:17 - 01:09:45:02
Speaker 1
Well, we're looking forward to you. Got to keep me posted. What you end up doing?

01:09:45:02 - 01:09:47:13
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Yep, yep. Talk me.

01:09:47:14 - 01:09:49:00
Speaker 1
I'll know if they do a big press release.

01:09:49:00 - 01:09:50:03
Speaker 2
And you're like, we're over over 80.

01:09:50:03 - 01:09:52:18
Speaker 1
New locations. I'll be like, okay, I know what's going on.

01:09:52:20 - 01:09:55:13
Speaker 2
Yeah, I know what she decided. And then if you don't.

01:09:55:13 - 01:09:57:12
Speaker 3
Hear from me, I'm in the middle of nowhere in my.

01:09:57:12 - 01:09:59:03
Speaker 2
Van.

01:09:59:05 - 01:10:01:16
Speaker 1
That I can get back. Yeah. Kaylee, thanks for coming on.

01:10:01:17 - 01:10:03:01
Speaker 3
Yes. Thank you, I appreciate it.

01:10:03:01 - 01:10:29:07
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in to the American Operator Podcast, where we celebrate the backbone of America small business owners and operators like you. If you've enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you'll never miss out on more of these stories and insights from people who keep our community strong. Until next time, keep building, keep operating and keep America moving forward.