We recently connected with Dr. Carla Pierson and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Carla , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

My identical twin sister, co-founder, and co-owner, Mary Ford, and I started this business in February 2022. In just under a year, our business reached one million dollars in revenue. A lot of people have asked us how we scaled so quickly, and I think the answer is unique. Instead of a commonality of going all in or taking a big risk, we did the opposite. By starting slow, and starting small, and figuring out the gaps and holes and the needs within our business first, we were able to layer onto a strong foundation, a self supporting model. By not dumping a bunch of money into unneeded things, and by letting things grow and happen, naturally at first, the business and the model grew itself. Now, we have a self sustaining model, and a scalability that almost cannot be stopped. It also runs itself in so many ways. Operational efficiency, and adherence to quality are two key components to our success in scalability.

As far as the actual story, it goes something like this. Mary asked me in later 2021 if I would want to do some mobile Botox in Nashville. She had the other pieces needed for legality and compliance, and all I had to do was say yes. I was skeptical at first, as I was in a demanding position in corporate healthcare, but ultimately, saw the value and opportunity. Even if it was to just make a little extra “on the side”. After about two months, I was completely saturated in Nashville, and the idea to “hire someone” came to us. We also realized quickly that our training was so poor, and if we were going to put our name behind someone, we needed to make sure in person that they were the right fit, and they were going to uphold the level of quality and safety we were expecting of ourselves.

We brought on our first “mobile, independent” injectors in May of 2021. Since then, it has been a day-to-day growth of the training program, the medical professionals who work with us, and the services we offer. The story is truly that simple. Drawing on Mary’s clinical expertise in medical aesthetics, my background in healthcare business, operations, and leadership, and our third partner, co-founder, and co-owner’s legal expertise in the space, we started figuring it out. Addressing each obstacle as it came with scaling and growing quickly, while also using those experiences to lay an even thicker foundation to the company as a whole.

We are proud of our unique model and of the culture we are building in the aesthetic’s community that is truly different than any before it.

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 was born as raised in Nashville, TN. I was an avid athlete and went to college to play basketball. Nursing was a field that always interested me, because I was aware early on the many pathways it could take. I always have been a natural leader, so leadership in the hospital was an immediate attraction. The company I spent my career with up until Smiley Aesthetics, HCA, was a powerful influence on how I grew in leadership, operations, and business in healthcare.

Through their support I was able to earn my Master of Nursing Administration, Master of Business, and ultimately, my Doctorate in Nursing Practice. I was given the opportunity at an early age in my career to take a huge leap in leadership when my mentor and leader saw the innate skills in me and took a chance on me. I am grateful and aware of that choice to this day and know it has greatly impacted my career in general.

I spent 13 years with HCA and grew to become the Director of Nursing, Clinical Operations for our group purchasing organization, which was responsible for our global supply chain as it related to our hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and so much more. As the nursing lead, I was a key member of the team that decided whether or not a new or change in products that were in our hospitals would occur, and whether or not it was clinically safe and efficient enough to help our nurses. It was a wonderful experience with them and it was during this role that Smiley Aesthetics was born. A year ago, if you had asked me if I would ever leave HCA, I would have t0ld you a resounding, “No.”

Once Smiley Aesthetics started moving forward it was hard to focus on much else. I could see the future and as the company grew, so did the time requirements. I actually changed roles to another start-up role (I know, I left HCA) that was fully remote, but was a big role. Here is the punch line… unrelated to Smiley or its demands on me, or at least as far as I know… I was fired 10 weeks into the role. I have never been fired. It came as a complete and utter shock one morning and there was no explanation. The call was just over 2 minutes and my family was left to pick up the pieces. As it turns out, things work out. I was able to (while freaking out) dive into Smiley Aesthetics full force, and that quarter we did three times as much revenue as we had done the entire rest of our existence. We needed me to focus on the operations and business and growth with all I had. While I knew that before I was fired, it was hard to see it or to be honest, take the leap of faith and give up that career for this. As I mentioned in the other question, NOT taking huge risks is one of the things I think has made us so successful.

Since then, we have not looked back. we are able, alongside Mary, to support our families and grow our company together, side-by-side, in Nashville, which in all honesty, is a dream come true.

Any advice for managing a team?

This is one of the most important aspects of any business, and also the hardest. I think it is quite simple. Your employees and those around you will SEE how hard you work, and they will respond accordingly. Leadership is all about working the hardest of anyone, especially starting out. This makes others see you and see your work and I believe it directly motivates them. If it does not, then they are not the right fit for your organization. Inspire people to work as hard as you. Then, treat them accordingly. Find your comfort zone for your family and situation financially, then pour the rest into your employees. A combination of inspiration from your work ethic as a leader and MONEY will keep the good ones around. Let’s be real, everyone is there to make a paycheck and if they did not need money, they most likely would not be grinding it beside you. The balance lies between being a leader and a co-worker at the same time.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Literally see the other question about my complete and total destruction of a career when I was fired literally out of no where. I was pulled away from a 13 year career with a lot of promises and a very high salary to do a job I was more than capable of doing. 10 weeks in, one morning, after having spoken to my CEO the evening before about her upcoming visit to Nashville, I was fired and given no reason. I was given a two week severance to replace a high six figure salary. If that is not a pivotal moment in any family’s life, I am not sure what is. With two young boys, 6 and 4, and an amazing husband, it was tough to let them down.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.smileyaesthetics.com
• Instagram: @Smiley_Aesthetics_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmileyAesthetics

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