Mistakes I made opening my first Medspa

The Mistakes I Made Opening My First Medical Spa (So You Don’t Have To)

Opening my first medical spa was one of the most exciting and humbling experiences of my career.

I came into it as a seasoned healthcare provider and business owner. I already ran a successful optometry and dry eye practice. I understood patient care, compliance, staffing, and operations.

And still… I made mistakes.

Not because I wasn’t capable, but because medical spas are an entirely different business model with their own rules, risks, and learning curves that no one really prepares you for.

Here are the biggest lessons I learned the hard way.

1. Medical Spas Come With a Whole New Set of Rules

One of the biggest shocks was realizing how different the regulatory environment is compared to optometry.

Medical spas operate under:

• Medical director requirements

• State-specific corporate practice of medicine laws

• Delegation rules for injectables and energy-based devices

• Supervision and charting standards

• Laser safety regulations

Even if you already own a medical practice, these rules can feel like a brand-new language.

Finding the right medical director is not just about having someone willing to sign paperwork. It’s about:

• Alignment on protocols

• Comfort with scope of services

• Availability for supervision

• Willingness to grow with the business

I learned very quickly that choosing this relationship carefully is not optional. It sets the foundation for everything that follows.

2. Just Because You Can Offer a Treatment Doesn’t Mean You Should

When you first open a med spa, everything looks exciting.

Lasers. Injectables. Body contouring. Skin tightening. Hormone therapy. IVs. Biohacking.

It’s tempting to think:
“If I offer more services, I’ll attract more patients.”

In reality, what matters far more is:

• What patients are actually searching for

• What your local market already understands

• What your team can confidently consult and deliver

• What you can market clearly and consistently

I learned that growth does not come from having the biggest menu. It comes from having clear specialties that patients recognize and value.

When services are scattered, marketing becomes confusing, consults become harder, and conversion drops.

3. Marketing Medical Aesthetics Is Nothing Like Marketing Eye Care

This one surprised me more than I expected.

In optometry, patients already understand:

• Why they need an exam

• Why vision matters

• Why eye health is medical

In aesthetics and wellness, you are often marketing:

• Desire

• Prevention

• Confidence

• Quality of life

That requires a completely different approach.

You need:

• Strong visual branding

• Social proof

• Before-and-after education

• Clear value communication

• Staff trained in consultative conversations, not clinical explanations

Learning how to market aesthetic services took real strategy, not just ads or promotions.

4. The Most Expensive Mistake: Buying the Wrong Devices

This is where things can get painfully expensive.

In med spas, devices are often:

• High-ticket

• Financed over long terms

• Marketed aggressively by sales reps

It’s very easy to get sold on:

• “This is the newest technology”

• “Everyone is buying this”

• “You’ll make your money back in no time”

But what actually matters is:

• Patient demand in your specific market

• Treatment experience and comfort

• Reliability and service support

• Marketing alignment

• And most importantly… ROI

I learned that a device can be clinically impressive and still be a poor business decision.

Even worse, some contracts are structured in ways that make it extremely difficult to exit if the device doesn’t perform as promised.

In this industry, there are unfortunately situations where providers are:

• Locked into long leases

• Sold unrealistic revenue projections

• Or left with equipment that does not match their patient base

This is not talked about enough, and it’s one of the fastest ways new med spas get financially stressed.

5. No One Teaches You How to Connect All the Pieces

What I eventually realized is that success in medical aesthetics is not about any single decision.

It’s about alignment between:

• Regulations and compliance

• Services and patient demand

• Devices and treatment outcomes

• Marketing and consult flow

• Staffing and training systems

• Financial modeling and scalability

When even one of those is off, the business feels harder than it should.

And most providers are trying to figure all of this out while also seeing patients, managing staff, and keeping the lights on.

It’s a lot.

Why I Now Teach What I Learned

Every mistake I made taught me something valuable, but many of them were avoidable with the right guidance.

That’s ultimately why I created educational programs and workshops to help other practice owners:

• Understand med spa regulations before they expand

• Choose treatments strategically

• Invest in devices intelligently

• Build systems that support growth instead of chaos

Not from theory, but from experience.

Because medical spas can be incredibly successful, profitable, and rewarding when they’re built on strong foundations.

But they can also become stressful and financially draining when decisions are made without a clear strategy.

The Bottom Line

Opening my first med spa taught me that success is not about moving fast.

It’s about moving smart.

Understanding the rules.
Knowing your market.
Building systems before scaling.
And making financial decisions that protect your long-term vision.

If I could go back, I wouldn’t change the journey.

But I would absolutely change how many of those lessons had to be learned the hard way.

And that’s exactly why I share them now.