We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicole Wyatt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicole below.
Alright, Nicole thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?
I’ll never forget my former Emergency Medicine nursing supervisors advice to me as a freshly graduated nurse: “Your patients are a direct reflection of you.” Those words always stuck with me. They resonated in my ears every time I entered and exited a patients room. If your patient appeared messy, it translated to you’re messy. Ever since that day I always made a conscious effort to go through my patients room and put in the extra effort.
Whether I was making sure the bedding and linens were clean and tidy, untangling cables and tubing, brushing a persons hair or ensuring their pillows were nice and fluffy; my daily tasks were crafted with care and attention to detail. It felt good to keep my patients safe and care for them with special consideration to their intricate needs and perform each task with effort and love.
I always visioned their family to walking in their room and thinking “Wow, grandma looks well cared for.”
It meant I was doing my job correctly. I firmly believed patients were truly a direct reflection of me, even in a chaotic and messy Emergency Department. The little details mattered and despite the demands of the ER, I felt it crucial to make a consistent effort to maintain that impression on my patients and their families.
The importance of an “aesthetic” was already deeply imbedded in me and I hadn’t even realized it.. yet.
Ok, but HOW does this tie into my first job in aesthetics? We’re almost there…remember, I love the details.
I never planned to leave the ER. Even after 8+ years in, I aspired to work in the trenches of emergency medicine for the rest of my life. I loved it, the pace, the chaos, the puzzles waiting to be solved. It remains the most memorable years of my career.
In 2017, the universe stepped in and I suffered a traumatic accident while snowboarding on vacation. Just 10 days after graduating with my masters degree and earning my license to practice as a nurse practitioner. I couldn’t walk across the stage to accept my degree because I was having my third orthopedic surgery to repair my leg. I couldn’t walk for 8months and despite all of my attempts to get back to the ER, it was simply not safe to do so. Between my unsteady gait and requirements for a cane, I was unfit for duty.
Saying I was devastated would be an understatement. My world was crumbling. My entire identity came into question. Eight months is a long time to sit in a bed and question your life choices. Just because I have a piece of paper saying that I am a nurse and a nurse practitioner… Does that make it so? I can’t carry out any of the functions of a nurse practitioner, much less get myself in and out of the bathroom without help or drive myself anywhere, so who am I now?
During that time I began to focus on the things that I could do, many of the creative hobbies that I was not able to focus on while working full-time in the ER and working on my masters degree at the University of Miami. I suddenly found myself learning calligraphy, painting, and working on other artistic crafts that I didn’t have time for before. I began to take an interest in the aesthetic portion of medicine and started to take courses online to study the science and anatomy of beauty and the intricacies of faces.
Once I could walk, I enrolled in a few courses related to medical aesthetics to see if it was some thing that I could potentially expand upon in my skill set. After the first two classes I was hooked. Eventually I signed up for any class that I could and found myself immersed in this amazing world where medicine meets artistry. There isn’t much room for creativity in the emergency room, most of medicine is protocol driven; rules, algorithms and step-by-step approaches.
After careful consideration, I wanted to give it a try. I wanted to see what a career and Aesthetics would feel like. I began to apply to several medical spas and doctors offices. I went on many interviews and was turned away because of my lack of experience. This rejection is not a new concept in medicine, anybody fresh out of school knows that it takes time to find someone willing to take a chance on you. Especially in this industry, people want to see your portfolio of work. Employers want to see your results and your talent. They want to see if you have a following or clientele. I did not. Despite the potential that I had, I didn’t have a strong portfolio to validate it. My formerly impressive résumé with over 10 years of experience in healthcare suddenly held no weight in this area of medicine.
Interview after interview, I was rejected. The interviewers would look at my résumé and could see that my education and clinical experience at the University of Miami demonstrated efficiency in the emergency room, but didn’t want to gamble if that translated well in the aesthetics.
One day, I was completely frustrated and I decided not to put on my application the fact that I did not have two years of injecting experience. I got called. They wanted to meet the following day. I decided to show up to the interview and rather than focus on what I didn’t have, I decided to pivot the conversation to highlight what I can bring to the table. I am a passionate and highly experienced emergency medicine professional with excellent hands-on skills and procedural ability. A person who is able to think and act quickly and recognize medical emergencies, abnormalities and acute problems and manage them in a timely manner. I explained to the interviewer that although I do not have two years of experience injecting or a thick portfolio to prove what I can do, I have 10 years of experience caring for problems that other medical spas and clinicians have caused and have managed them in the emergency setting. I have seen vascular occlusions of the face. I have seen cellulitis and angioedema and fat embolisms. I’ve seen black market treatments become septic. I’ve seen granulomas and abscesses. I’ve treated burns from lasers. I am familiar with what to look out for. I am aware of what can go wrong and can quickly react and adapt to situations, I feel prepared to recognize and manage these issues and this makes me especially cognizant of what I need to do to prevent complications from occurring in my practice.
I said “I can grow and learn to develop the best techniques to make beautiful results and you can rest assured that I will consistently do it with safety, integrity and quality in mind.”
I was offered the opportunity on the spot. I landed my first aesthetic nurse practitioner opportunity.
Although I’ve since moved on other professional opportunities and eventually opened my own practice, I will always be especially thankful for that opportunity. People often ask me how I got my foot in the door and I jokingly reply: “I broke my leg.” It allowed me to explore my sweet spot in medicine.
My patients remain a direct reflection of me in more ways than ever. The ER nurse in me will always be heavily concerned with maintaining safety and integrity. Meanwhile my creative side has the freedom to flourish.
Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Nicole Wyatt and I am a board certified acute care nurse practitioner, aesthetic injector, clinical educator at the University of Miami school of nursing and the founder of Miami Aesthetic Specialists.
My career in medicine begin in 2010 when I fell in love with emergency medicine. After dedicating 10 years of my life to the emergency room, a traumatic injury led me to discover other opportunities in medicine. In 2018, I embarked upon a new opportunity in aesthetics.
Initially I started with Botox, Fillers, PRP and advanced skin care. Eventually I fell in love with lasers and came to appreciate the use of PDO threads. I had the opportunity to learn about stem cells and regenerative medicine, the benefits of IV nutritional therapy and the importance of hormonal balance.
There were things that I liked and disliked about the aesthetic medicine world. For one, there no longer was the aggressive pace of the ER. I had time to talk with my happy and delighted patients. However, there was a standardization and structure that I desperately missed from the hospital life. Initially I struggled to find a happy medium between the two where I could ensure the safety and integrity of my patients and still enjoy the light hearted feel of aesthetics.
When I decided to open Miami Aesthetic Specialists in 2019, I spent a lot of time thinking about what was most important to me. I really wanted to provide patients with an experience in a space where patients could feel safe and comfortable. I wanted to avoid that overly cold and clinical feeling of a medical office while still representing a professional and reputable clinic. I didn’t want people to feel like just another number, like they were rushed through or pressured into spending money. I wanted to work to ensure that every single person who walked through the door felt valued. In the past, I had worked for offices that tried to squeeze 4-5 patients into each hour, just a blur faces and a busy and uncomfortable waiting room. I never liked that scenario and I felt that patients deserved some thing different.
After trial and error, successes, failures and lessons learned.. I have created Miami Aesthetic Specialists aka MÁS. Más, in Spanish means more, and that’s exactly what I want to deliver.
Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?
I strongly believe that I would not be where I am today had it not been for my patients. Many of them have followed me over the last five years to the different medical spas and doctors offices that I’ve worked in. They traveled, remained loyal, and always expressed so much support. Had it not been for them cheering me on and believing in me, I would not have made it as far as I have.
You will see a lot of marketing companies approaching you and many of them will tell you that loyalty will be the hardest obstacle in this industry. Quite frankly, that has not been an issue for me. I believe that if you give your patients the best of you, they will return and give you the best of them. They will follow you to the moon and back, they will send you their friends and family and they will sing your praises on social media. ( who needs marketing ? 😂)
Opening a practice is not an easy road. It looks like a lot of fun and it seems like a dream to be your own boss but nonetheless you will have highs and lows. During those low periods, your patients who trust and believe in you will be there to radiate positivity and love and it will remind you why you started in the first place. Value them always, respect and cherish them. One day if you’re lucky, you’ll wake up and realize you’ve created a kick ass tribe.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Social media can be a powerful tool when used correctly. It’s a great way to show people who you are and what you can do. I like to think of it as the modern day business card. Nowadays people don’t hand out your card to their friends, they’ll just send them your Instagram. For new client acquisition, social media can be an effective tool. Also, when you have an established client who is recommending your services to a friend, it’s nice for the person to be able to go to your page and explore on their own.
I firmly believe that if you treat your clientele well, deliver great results and have a good bedside manner you will do well in this industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.miamiinjector.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/miami_aesthetics?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-wyatt-msn-aprn-agacnp-bc-1b0a99a6
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/wi5v0dalWrb
Image Credits
Emcyte corporation