We recently connected with Michelle Kelley and have shared our conversation below.
Michelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.
I have been in healthcare for 14 years and I have worked in large hospitals, and outpatient services, for a smaller company that was just getting started and even taught at a local college. I loved every position I accepted and gave my full attention and effort to the position I was in. But I was always missing something and my desires were never fully met in any of those careers. While I am thankful for all the experience I have obtained over the years I knew there was something more fitting for me.
During my career with the large hospital system and the outpatient services company, I came to realize that I did not like the bureaucratic world and politics that were required at these companies and that if someone partook in those practices it would help to elevate them to higher positions. I have never understood undermining and being devious to others to get to a higher position within a company. I have always felt that if you continue to do the right things you will be rewarded with greatness.
My drive to leave my previous positions was simple, I wanted to create a business where I could still help people, guide people and advocate for people in terms of their health and wellness. I wanted to provide people with a more natural solution to everyday ailments that didn’t involve taking pharmaceuticals. I knew there were alternatives and solutions but I had to pinpoint exactly what that was. I also wanted to create a work environment for my employees that was culturally sound, rewarding, inspired growth and opportunity, and that was fun to come to every day. I want those employees that stay with us for 10 to 20 years and adapt and grow with the company over time. So I took that philosophy with the help of my husband, Dennis Kelley, and we began creating VIP Total Health & Hydration in 2019.
Dennis and I had never done anything like this before but we both wanted to do something different and something that would allow us to help others. We both have a very empathetic side and the more we began creating VIP we knew this was going to turn into something great. We just had to slowly piece everything together. And we are honestly still doing that! I don’t think any business owner sits back and says they have it all figured out.
We were very diligent in creating the foundation of VIP Total Health & Hydration throughout 2019. We did a lot of research and brought individuals onto our team whom we knew we could trust, who were goal-oriented, excellent at their craft, and had the same passion as us. Dennis and I signed the lease for our office space in February 2020 and then the COVID-19 Pandemic shut the economy down in March 2020. This was the first of many challenges that we faced together. We knew we couldn’t give up from the start so we dug our heels into the ground and did everything we could do to get the company off the ground as quickly as possible. We opened our doors in July 2020 to our San Antonio and Fort Worth locations. It was extremely hard navigating the uncertainty of the economy but the shining light the COVID-19 Pandemic cast on our business is that everyone was very interested in improving their health more naturally. VIP offered those services! We built our company for expansion in the early stages of development. We now have 4 locations: Fort Worth, Aledo, Plano, and San Antonio and we plan to continue expanding our brand across Texas. A unique offering that we provide to individuals outside of Texas that would like to open their own medspa or IV clinic is the option to purchase our Intellectual Property (IP) along with a business consulting agreement. We help these entrepreneurs establish and grow their practice as we have. This has been a great option for people who don’t know where to start, how much money is typically required to get started, where to allocate their money in the first year, and how to create the protocols and procedures that we have in place.
Dennis and I have learned so much over the past 2 years and we know there is still plenty to learn on the horizon. I feel that when individuals stop learning, they stop growing and developing. I make it a point to always learn something new that could be beneficial to our business, our clients, and our staff.
An important lesson I have learned through my healthcare career and in navigating my own business is that customers and employees hold the same importance in a business. They are on the same plane because if you treat your employees well and empower them to grow they will in turn demonstrate that same passion to your clientele. We take great care of clients by taking great care of our employees.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have been in the healthcare field for 14 years. I started out in the imaging side of healthcare, performing x-rays and ultrasounds in the hospital system and then at an outpatient services company. I absolutely loved my job as an Ultrasound Tech because it allowed me to develop a relationship with many of the patients I saw. Not many people know and understand the job of Ultrasound Techs but we have to know and understand a lot of pathologies. We have to be able to listen to the patient’s symptoms, look at their lab work for details of pathologies, perform scans to determine a diagnosis, and then consult with a Radiologist following the exam to discuss our findings. As an ultrasound tech, my knowledge of the human body expanded very quickly and I became to know and understand much more about the human body that I wanted to continue learning. On my off time from work, I would study and read about nutrition, holistic therapies, and natural remedies that fascinated me.
I began researching different types of medical treatments and the one that resonated with me the most was Functional Medicine. Functional medicine is a form of alternative medicine that works holistically and takes a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and sometimes even spiritual health into consideration. Functional medicine doctors are typically osteopathic physicians that focus on the root cause of a condition or symptom by evaluating factors such as diet, genetics, hormonal changes, and other lifestyle components in their diagnosis. Functional medicine doctors approach a patient’s treatment from a whole health perspective rather than from individualized diagnoses.
When Dennis and I opened our business I had no business background or sense. Dennis has 20+ years of experience in business and has worked for multi-million dollar companies. Our strategy was that I would work the healthcare side of the business and he would work the business side. After a few months, I told my husband I wanted to go back to school and get my Bachelor’s Degree in Business. I pretty much had to start at ground zero because all of my prerequisites were medically related. I finished my BBA in two years and upon graduation, I took a few months off and decided I wanted to get my Master’s Degree in Business because I felt I had so much more to still learn. My husband was not surprised at all by my drive to continue. I graduated with my MBA in December 2022. The most challenging part of this journey is not only were my husband and I navigating our new business but we also have twins that are now 3 years old. So it was a very busy 3 years in our household as anyone could imagine!
My passion and drive are to help clients advocate for themselves in terms of their healthcare journey. I think many people feel they have to follow traditional medicine practices and take medications because doctors tell them they have to do so. Years of research has been shown that some unconventional practices are also highly effective. We don’t direct our clients to stop taking necessary medications for high blood pressure or high cholesterol but we do try to direct them to all natural resources and solutions that can make a large difference in their healthcare journey. I have never understood the concept of taking one medication that in turn makes an individual have to take two additional pharmaceuticals to combat the one medication they were originally prescribed. I feel that many people fall into this category. Instead of prescribing pharmaceutical medications to every client we should be addressing the root cause of their problems. An easy example is if someone is taking high blood pressure medications and they are obese. If we can help that individual lose weight by taking a deep look into their hormones, gut health, nutrition, and vitamin absorption levels we could potentially help them lose their necessary weight and get off their high blood medication or avoid the medication altogether.
When we created VIP Total Health & Hydration we only offered IV therapy services to clients. We have expanded our offerings over the past two years to create a business that is more inclusive to the client. We want clients to come into our facility and be able to provide them with additional complimentary services. Like a one-stop shop for healthcare! We now offer hormone replacement services, beauty services, skincare, regenerative medicine, lab work, weight loss programs, and nutritional counseling and coaching.
I’m proud to have created a business with my spouse that we are both so passionate about and believe in so much. We both took a major risk in launching this business because we felt we could help people navigate a healthcare journey that could be more beneficial to their health, longevity, and quality of life.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I had to make a major pivot when I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Business. When I obtained my medical degrees the thought never crossed my mind that I would eventually go back to school and into an entirely different field of work. When we decided to start VIP Total Health & Hydration I felt it was imperative for me to obtain some education in business. After acquiring my Bachelor’s degree I felt I still had more to learn and I wanted to make sure I felt well-educated in business. If I’m being completely honest I also felt that if I did not have a Master’s degree I would not hold enough merit in the business world since the field is very male predominant. I want to be taken seriously as a female navigating business and having an MBA has given me the status I feel is necessary. In terms of women in business, I feel we have to be firm, confident, and capable.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When I think of resiliency I think of someone who is able to withstand a crisis and recover quickly both mentally and emotionally. Starting a business is not for the weak-minded. You have to be mentally tough and willing to lay everything on the line for something you believe in no matter what. I have been faced with many obstacles and difficult times during the growth of our business. My husband and I never had a plan B. Making our business successful is our only plan. I think that when people have a plan B it makes it a little easier to give up and throw in the towel. To get our business off the ground we completely drained all of our IRA accounts, our 401k, and our savings. We literally dumped everything we had into this business and there was no turning back. Our first hurdle was getting through the global pandemic. Instead of giving up we figured out a way to turn that to our advantage, which many businesses did around the world. Our second hurdle was making sure we had the right staff in place at all times. Many business owners understand the struggle of having reliable, high-performing staff members. A company’s employees can make or break the business. Many of our clients come to us because they love our staff members. Our last hurdle was and still is cash flow. Cash flow is crucial for the survival of a business and having a full understanding of what that meant took a little time. We have had to be very diligent in taking on debts, finding lines of credit to help fund our business, and even taking on an investor. If it weren’t for our resiliency we would have never made it as far as we have.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.viptotalhealth.com
- Instagram: viptotalhealth_hydrationfw
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/viptotalhealth
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-kelley-mba