We were lucky to catch up with Maryellen Bishop recently and have shared our conversation below.

Maryellen , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I ever took was at 25 years old. I was working in sales/marketing, and decided I should’ve gone ahead and followed that original dream I’d had of going into medicine. So I started re-taking college science classes that had expired (most medical programs want the courses to have been completed within 5 years), and dipping my toe back into the idea of changing career paths. I also switched over to a job as a medical assistant with a dermatology practice to learn and get the required patient care hours.

My MA hourly wage wasn’t enough to cover lab courses and rent, so I also started working as a waitress at night to make ends meet. I dog sat, babysat, and taught early morning gym classes, in addition to my full time medical assistant role and four nights a week of waiting tables. Because I was working so many hours, I could only take one or two lab science courses a semester, and it took me a long, hard 5 years just to be able to finish all the courses, then apply to and interview for PA school, and to finally get accepted. So while many of my friends from college were well into their careers, getting married, starting families; I was still just getting started with the most important part of my future–my masters degree in medicine. I went to George Washington University in DC, and it was extremely challenging (there were quite a few times I was sure I wouldn’t make it), but somehow I got through all of that, and graduated when I was 32 years old.

Seven years later, after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and I finally had my MSHS, PA-C. The risk had been so worth it.

Maryellen , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m an aesthetic medicine physician assistant, working out of Artisan Beaute’ in Buckhead, with Dr. Diane Alexander, and I’ve been with the practice for over four years, and practicing injectables (like Botox and fillers) for over six years full time (prior to that was emergency medicine and dermatology).

I treat with a holistic, full face approach, and most of my patients come to me for my expertise in facial balancing, highlighting features, and providing a more youthful, refreshed look; all while maintaining the integrity of the patient’s natural appearance. I’m a big believer in working within the confines of each individual’s unique anatomical features, never pushing boundaries into the unnatural, and many of my patients drive or fly from out of state to visit me for my artistic, safe and beautiful filler and botox work. I’m also a national trainer for Allergan Medical Institute (makers of Botox and all Juvederm fillers), and I do private trainings as well, with other injectors also driving or flying in to learn.

I think what sets me apart, aside from my natural looking, beautiful results, is my sincere desire to bring joy to every patient that sits in my chair. Whether they’re buying a few units of Botox, or 5 syringes of filler, I put my heart and soul into every result and every connection, and I hope and believe that each and every patient of mine feels listened to, educated, and genuinely cared about.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Honestly, I’ve found Instagram to be the most effective strategy to attract like minded patients. When Dr. Alexander first opened Artisan Beaute’, I had a pretty empty schedule. Some patients had followed me from my previous work place in John’s Creek, but I hadn’t been okayed to start a professional instagram in that previous practice, and so it was harder for patients to keep in touch. As I sat waiting between patients in the early slow days, I researched, I posted instagram before and afters of my work, educational posts, and I gave consult after consult to anyone coming in for a facial or a laser, or just to buy product. I offered up my services to staff to showcase my work with their before and afters, and I gave introductory discounts to local mom’s groups on facebook, etc. But truly, as my Instagram following grew over the years, I began to realize that in sharing not just my work, but also my education, my verbiage in captions, my videos talking, and my values, that I no longer had to credential myself to every new patient coming in. Patients were seeking me out for my name and my skill set. They had followed me for a while before coming into their first appointment, and they felt that they already knew me and trusted me fully. That’s the beauty of social media. Word of mouth is great, and I absolutely cherish those referrals! But by showing my personality, my skills, my joy for teaching and sharing online to the. internet, I’ve been able to access a whole separate set of patients that now come in and just say, “I’ve followed you for a while on Instagram, I trust you. Do whatever you think I need.” It’s so funny, because you feel so awkward sharing your life, your voice, so much of what you care about on the internet, and you worry that trolls will make rude comments; but it’s so valuable to small business growth. It’s like online dating! (And I was pretty successful at that too, since I got my husband and three beautiful kids out of it!)

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I get asked so often by nurses and PAs about how to break into aesthetic medicine, and this is such a tough thing to answer well. But I do have a few tips for those trying to get in, or already in and trying to make a name for themselves: 1) Find a mentor. Hopefully it can be a boss or supervising physician who will train you and have a vested interest in your success. Or maybe it’s another injector at your job. I’ve recently mentored a new injector PA, and less than a year in, she is doing amazingly well!
2) Go to every training. Every. Single. One. The free ones, the ones you can afford to pay for, the dinner talks, the online webcasts offered by the filler and neurotoxin companies, and even the Instagram lives talking about aesthetic medicine.
3) Shadow other injectors you respect. You may need to pay for their time, but it will be worth it.
4) Invest in your patients with sincere care and concern, and plenty of time. Don’t try to be busy immediately (even though you will desperately want to), just try to make each patient you do have the HAPPIEST patient on the planet. The rest will follow, and so will the success… After all, success is measured mostly in your daily joy, right? Well when you make people happy all day, there’s no way to not be filled with joy!
5) Lastly, don’t go into aesthetics because you think it might be easy side money. You can cause permanent damage with injectable fillers, including vision deficits or scarring. Injectables need to be respected, and not jumped into lightly. It’s all fun and games until you hurt someone, and now no patients want to come to you. That would be detrimental to business, and it only hurts the industry as a whole. But if we all can give safe, beautiful results, we only help the industry grow and improve.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artisanbeaute.com , botoxatl.com
• Instagram: @facesbyme
• Facebook: @facesbyme
• Linkedin: Maryellen Pearson Bishop

Image Credits
Michele Reed Photography (the photo of me, all the before and afters are mine)