April 9, 2026 • 22 mins
Eric Nietzel-Leone II CEO of I Wanna Be Prettty | CEO's You Should Know
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone, This is Steve Allison and welcome to this
youth's edition of CEOs. You should know I'm thrilled to
be joined by Eric, the CEO of I want to
be pretty Eric, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks for having me here today, Steve.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're excited to jump in and learn more about you
and of course more about the company.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Awesome. So, I know you went from eight years in
the ICU, especially during the heart of COVID, to launching
I want to be pretty tell us about that journey
and what was that one defining moment that really pushed
you to take the leap. I know that at the
time you only had ten thousand dollars in the bank account.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, that was kind of crazy. And if anyone has
ever had ten thousand dollars in the bank account and
made a leap like that, you understand how intense that
feeling is.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So in the ICU, I spent a long time, you know,
working in the ICY, worked in the neuro ICU, and
then when COVID hit, which was one of the most
intense experiences, especially because we got hit. One of the
first hospitals that I got hit on the East Coast
with the COVID you know, patients. It was just a
really crazy experience. And you know, as a nurse and
then working in the medical field, you do end up
(00:57):
with a lot of empathy and experiences and feelings for
these pays and just seeing you know, the end of
life and almost like the worst experience all the time.
It was definitely like a little bit darker than I
ever wanted to live. You know, I kept thinking and
the end of my life was going to end up
in a hospital bed like this. So when I had
transitioned and I was doing aesthetics in the first place,
I noticed it was like able to make a difference,
(01:18):
make people happy, and also do a lot of ways
to create a preemptive things to get people into like
wellness and esthetics. And I felt like that was a
way of actually continuing on with the medical aspect, but
in a way that I actually could see you know,
the positive impact sure, instead of always seeing such the negative.
And you know, both experiences are great, and we you know,
(01:39):
obviously are frontline workers. It's super important that they're there
and doing that stuff. But it was just such a
nice transition to bring about a different type of change
in the medical field, and with ten thousand dollars in
the bank, that was crazy. I'm not gonna lie. I
remember the day that I decided to finally sign the
lease and just jump at it. My cousin came over.
I was telling her wha to open a business a
long time ago, but it was with my friend family, Like,
(02:02):
I didn't have much risk of it at that time.
But she sat me down and she was just like,
you just have to do it. You just like, if
you feel like you're gonna do it, you just have
to do it because once you jump in, you're just
going to keep going up. So we're not but just
have to do it. So yeah, that's kind of like
the start of this thing. And I can't believe I'm here, honestly,
and I can't believe. I look back in my life
and I'm like, I can't believe this. But all the
(02:22):
time the ICU and then all the way into this
completely different field, completely different experience. I mean, like it's
a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
That's awesome. Well, thank god you took that leap, right, Yeah,
And I know that being an entrepreneur isn't something that's
new you've really been doing it since childhood. Starting your
first business at ten, How did those experiences along the
way get you ready for the luxury company you have today?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well? Did that? Okay? So I told you what that
first business was, right, not? Oh my goodness, my first business.
I was like ten years old and I went to
a pet shop. Loved animals when I was a kid.
I went to a pet shop and I remember I
love to talk to people. I was three years old.
My mom told me I ran up to her or
I was four or five, can't even remember. Whenever you
(03:04):
can talk whenever, that is. I went up to my
mom and I said to her, I was like, I
just made a friend. It was so easy. And then
I ran back out came back up and I was like,
I made another friend. It's even easier. And she was like, oh,
this kid's like really outgoing. So that being said, I
was always having a fun time, like talking to people,
getting to know people. And I met the pet shop owners.
And this story is a little crazy because when I
(03:26):
met the pet shop owners, I just always was asking
inquisitive and asking questions. And I really liked the Gerbils
and I said, like, where do you get your journals
from Like I like, as a kid, like, why do
I need to know the wholesale costs of gerbils? Anyways,
they were like, oh, we get it from a breeder,
and I was like interesting. I bought the gerbils. I
went home, I got a book on breeding churpils, I
pad the gerbils and somehow talked to them about, hey,
(03:47):
can I sell some of those gerbils to you. I
don't know if that was legal, but I did it.
And even crazier at that point in time, one of
the other people there asked me if I wanted to
catch them some frogs and turtles and sell them to them,
and I was like yeah, So that was like my goal.
I made money as a little kid by like catching
animals selling them back. But the big part of that
was it was my first learning how to create relationships
(04:09):
and business. And I think that has something that's translated
across all this time because throughout all of the business
that I've had ever, it's always been about relationship building
and how you build trust foster you know, connection with people,
and that really just taught me at a young age.
If you have a connection conversation, sometimes you can find
a goal. It just gets you places like selling triples
(04:31):
and turtles in your young age.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, that's a wild story. I know that obviously we
learned from taking that risk originally with the ten thousand
dollars in the bank. Is that taking risks as part
of your mindset. I know that you are about to
compete a five day race along the Arctic Circle. How
does that risk taking mindset really translate into you being
a founder in the CEO?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So we're going to fast forward to the future because
I just finished that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh nice. Let tell you.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Sometimes I think to myself and like, why do I
do this? But the reason, part of the reason I
even did that in the first place, is because I
love that. I love that challenge, and I'm not afraid
of the challenge. I love the experience and I love
seeing what's on the other side of that, whether it's
the views, whether it's experience that you have with people,
whether it's just satisfaction of the end of the challenge.
I think as an entrepreneur or a CEO, or whoever
you call yourself, you have to take risks and you
(05:23):
have to know that you have no control of the
outcome other than what you put yourself into and how
much work you put into it, and even sometimes then
it doesn't always work out. Yep. So that being said,
you know you have to I mean, and I'm not
going to say don't take calculated risks. That's stupid. You know,
I took time to plan for something like this, you
know it, and planning looks differently to everybody, you know,
(05:45):
Like for me planning to get into the esthetics business,
I spent time learning about it. I spent time creating
at least a good small amount of clients that were
so loyal that they would bring me more clients. Like,
even it was a small amount, it was enough to
actually continue to help support me. So even though we
say risk taking, it's more also preparation, right and doing
(06:07):
something like that or taking you know, taking that risk
of ten thousand dollars. You know, it's not like you
just jump and you're like, I'm taking a gamble here.
You know, you do take that time to prepare. But
the problem is that I think people prepare, prepare, prepare,
and they're always never taking a risk of taking the risk.
And that I have that with some of the people
that so I have mentors in my life, and I
have people that I coach, and sometimes with the people
(06:28):
that I coach, I'm always like I want to, like
spartan kick them, like right off the edge, like you
got this, But they're like, you know, they're learning and
they're at their own comfort zones. But you really, you know,
sometimes it's so easy to get in your head that
you're need to overprepare or underprepare. But at the end
of the day, like you know, sometimes it's just about
taking their dive.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's awesome. Congrats on that.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Thank you. That was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, we should go next time.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I gotta check it out. All right, So let's talk
about the brand in the company, right. I know that
your brand in particular, it blends that clinical expertise with
that lug highly personalized experience. How do you train and
develop and lead your team to kind of balance those
two things, right, that medical trusted advice, but that elevated
guest experience.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, I'm going to say, and I've just like realized this,
as you know, sometimes you look at yourself you're like, oh,
how did they get there? But first off, you got
to keep it fun, Okay, because clinical environments, especially coming
from the hospital and going into esthetics. I think that
medicine in general, they you know, we have a different
mindset in the hospital, and sometimes it gets translated into
aesthetics so it gets too clinical, too tough. I feel
(07:31):
like nervous going into certain places. You just have you know,
those people here for service. You have to have fun.
On the clinical side, you know, you need to make
sure you're educated. You need to make sure you're putting
in the time and effort to learn things. You need
to make sure you know you're looking at evidence based research,
not just kind of reading everything else TikTok and following trends,
you know. But on the other side, you do need
to know that these people are here for a service.
(07:52):
They're here to feel good, look good. You know, they
might be going through a divorce, where they might be
going through a bad breakup, or a job law. You know,
they don't want them feel extra clinical. It's like kind
of sterile. So you want to make sure you keep
things fun. And that's why I called the brand I
Want to Be Pretty. So it was just like, all right,
what is just like casual and funny about this? And
that's where I just went. I was like let's keep
(08:13):
it fun, Let's keep it elevated. I wear pink gloves
because I think it's just like an added little touch
where it's just like it's not some crazy sterile glove
in your face. It's like, oh, we're here to We're
here to have a good time.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's fun. Well, I know I want to be pretty.
You emphasize that natural not doune look, right, And I
know that in the industry sometimes is really driven by
like dramatic transformations. How do you innovate while staying true
to that philosophy.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's so fascinating to well, So, first off, innovation does
not mean following any type of trend, right, And I
always say, like this might mean not be a great example,
but I think Chanelle like holds a very nice, long
classic you know timeline of always kind of staying somewhat
in trend because they keep the same concept of what
(08:57):
is classic, but they have like small alterations here and there,
and the same with you know, esthetics. You treat people
like a Bonzie tree. This is the weirdest analogy, but
you treat people like a Bonzie tree. You ever ever
cut a Bonsie tree before?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
All right, we're gonna Steve. You have so many fun
things to do together, all right. So a Bonzie tree,
when I learned, when you cut a bonsiye tree, it's
not about cutting it into the shape that you want it, right,
It's about actually following the natural curves and ebbs and
flows of the bon Sie tree and then bringing out
in it the energy that you want to see. So
if the tree wants to go like this, you just
help it go like that a little better, and you know,
get off the little things that are like not focused
(09:32):
and whatnot. So when you look at a person's face,
like at the end of the day, they have their
own natural features, right, we get so quickly to like
wash all that away and in the aesthetics and everyone
starts to look a little cookie cutter. You know, you
just kind of follow the flow of that person's face
and what they you know, what they're trying to bring out.
You ask them what they do, You ask them what
you're looking for. But that being said, innovation can come
(09:55):
with new technology, new procedures. Just because these new technol
cologies are out doesn't mean we can. We have to
chase them, and you know, do like the lip trend
making someone look very like you know, I don't know
how to say this without putting names out there. My
PR person would get thrown into this. My PR person
(10:15):
be in the back of my head. But I no,
I would say, like, you don't like everyone looking like
the snapschat filters. You want. You're for people to have
a little bit of characters to their face because in
the long run, ten fifteen years later, they're gonna want,
you know, and they might things might change in their life.
They're going to want to still be able to see themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yep. Speaking of innovations, I know that you offer every
service from botox to other procedures like PRP. To your point,
there's so many different trends out there on TikTok and
within the beauty space. How do you carefully select which
innovations you want to bring into the practice.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I try to stay with everything that has a large
amount of data on it. It's safe and I know
that in the long run, these treatments aren't going to
be harm as much to my knowledge that these people
as possible. So treatments like PRP, it's been around for
a long time. It's been used in multiple different settings,
and it's from yourself to yourself. You know, we know
(11:11):
that it's not it's not like introducing medications or other impacts,
which which can be fine, but just saying like that,
we know that's good. And I have a young demographic
of patients, so my primary thought process is always like,
what's this person if she's starting so young twenty five,
twenty four, sometimes, what's going to happen if we start
(11:31):
so young? You know, we have to make sure all
the treatments are not going to affect her that when
she's in her thirties or forties, it's going to be
of detriment or cauture to have to get other types
of treatments to correct the things that happened earlier. So
that's one thing. And also I've tried everything that I
put out there on myself at least once, and if
I like it and I see it work, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Okay, there we go doing first hand research.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Which is crazy because when I started it's like ten
years ago, I was like doing it to myself and
that was that was an experience. Yeah, yeah, don't recommend that, guys.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So I know that in the last nine months, you've
generated nearly nine million dollars in revenue.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Congratulations, that's so crazy because it's much less than that.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
That's the fat. I mean, do that one.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Again, a million. So we do. We doe seven figures
from ten thousand in the bank to seven figures.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
All right, Yeah, sounds good. Ready, I love that.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You want. Let's let's do nine million.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Let's go for it, all right. I know in the
last nine months you've went from ten thousand dollars in
revenue seven figures. Yeah, and you also have a really
high rebooking rate at seventy five percent. What are those
core strategies that led you to that traction and also
to that loyalty with your consumers?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
All right? So you know, whenever we talk about something
like this, the reason I even think that was such
an interesting when I looked at that was like, holy shit,
that came up to me because all the time I
spent in the U, you know, building that skill of
empathy and then translating it to understanding how patients feel
in the chair, how patients feel when they're talking about
their vulnerabilities, or how patients feel about walking in walking out,
(13:05):
and making sure that what's implemented so that every day
they're coming in, they're feeling like a rock star. And
that once I caught on to how to make sure
that my patients felt like rock stars because on the
end of the day, you're coming in, you know, if
you ever get a good haircut, you know you feel
fresh because half the time your barber's there letting you speak,
making you feel good, and you walk out you feel
like a million bucks. Right, So, same same thing. You know,
(13:28):
you go in there, you let your patients talk, You
have a fun time with your patients. You really empathize
and understand what they're going through, which can look in
like in so many different ways, but anyways, that kind
of translates to the patients being like, I feel so
good coming into the space. I know I can trust
this person. I know this person takes care of me.
I want to come back yep, you know, and within
(13:48):
reason because actually this is some of my patients whatever
get you know, catch on to this. But there's patients
sometimes I'm like, you don't need to come back for
a little bit, but I can just tell they just
want to come back into the space. They want to
just have that experience. And sometimes I'm just like, you
can come by for we can go get a coffee
or something very different experience.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's awesome. And I know we talked a little bit
about the name earlier, right, I want to be pretty.
It's fun it's bold, but the mission is much deeper.
It helps with both external and internal improvement for your customers.
How do you com communicate that to new clients as
they walk through those doors.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's funny because I want to be pretty name it
sounds so superficial and shallow, which was like obviously what
it's supposed to be. It's like you stand out, you know,
a little camp. But at the end of the day,
my ethos or thought process between pretty was pretty. It
was just the idea of how much you work on
yourself internally and externally to be a better person every
day and that can look like a one percent change
every day. And when it comes down to patients coming
(14:49):
in and getting treatments, we kind of always talk about
the plan, the goal, you know, setting up a structure
that's going to help them in the long run, whether
that's micro needling or whether that it's better health habits,
whether that's you know, taking on you know, a supplement
if they need it, Like we don't want to push anything,
but I'm just saying, like anything, that they need to
make an all inclusive treatment. But that also translates to
(15:12):
once they start doing stuff for themselves like that. You
notice that there was actually a study on this. I
have to quote this because I'm want to say it.
I always say you have to have the quote. But
they showed that people who got treatments actually really fascinating
when they got botox treatments, there was a thirty percent
decrease in depression and anxiety and increase in life satisfaction
with them first twenty four hours of the treatment, not
related to the actual treatment. And I thought this was
(15:34):
so fascinating because that allowed also people to make other
changes in their life like this is you know, I
don't say this happens to everyone, but like quit smoking
or make better health habit choices. So that was the
ethos doesn't have to connect communicated straight to the patient.
It's just quickly and quietly changing some of those habits
(15:55):
to actually create a bigger effect. I think they had
this thing, Oh my god, I can't remember, but I
believe that it was the subway systems when they were
having issues with crime and they decided to take away
the graffiti instead of anything else in that decreased crime.
It's just sometimes the littlest thing that you can do
to help change, you know, and help someone focus their
efforts into a different aspect can change so many mother
(16:18):
habits in their life. Yeah, so that's where the that's
one of the ethos that we carry is like, we're
not Yeah, I'm not trying to make you look different.
I'm just trying to help you start thinking about what
caring for yourself would look like.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Love that. I know we talked about this a little
bit earlier. That a lot of your clientele are younger
or maybe they're first timers. How do you feel you
want to track that audience? And then too, what is
your long term strategy for them to continue to be patients.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah? That is so fun because I'm really lucky to
have such a young demographic of clients. Because one, they're
much more receptive to education in the beginning, and they're
much more comfortable with talking about it. So there's two things.
One they tell their friends, which is nice you've met
back different generations. They might not tell everyone. They're like, oh,
(17:06):
how does Sandy look so good? She's aging. Well. This generation,
they're all like about like, oh yeah, Mike Green, youa dilling,
I got this, you know, talking about it, which has
been I'm really grateful for that, and I'm happy for that.
But setting up plans ahead of time and just starting
people in healthy habits, whether it's onscreen, you know, you
know when we talk about treatments like my Greneleion PRP,
(17:27):
something that's super simple but also really effective. Just setting
them up on plans and not saying like you need
to do so much all the time, and she's like,
if you do this and one more treatment every year,
you know, they just start with a healthy plan and habit.
And the other thing is I try to also keep
them from going all over the place with their skincare
routine because oh my goodness, there's so much stuff on
(17:47):
the market and it's so easy to buy all this stuff,
and their poor skin is getting but pliterated with like
all different creams and stuff. So we try to also
get them to understand the core basics of what's in
a skincare cream that works for them so that they
don't feel like every marketing you know, experience is going
to make them want to buy it, if that makes sense.
So those are some of the things that help when
(18:08):
they're younger, and also just learning to be conservative. Yeah,
and also pumping the brakes because they come in wanting
everything sometimes and you're just like, Okay, let's take.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
It all the way step by step. I'll do one
thing at a time. That's probably why you have a
seventy five percent retention.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, definitely, and they really appreciate that. I think that's
one of the things I hear that a lot from
my clients is that because I say no, which is
really fun, like wait, but yeah, saying you have to
say no to your clients a lot, just you know,
not in a way of like stopping them from treatment,
but just saying like, I think you need to just
take a second, go home and think about this. Yeah,
(18:41):
maybe we'll come and revisit it makes it all sense.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Obviously, we talked about your gerbil business when you're ten
years old, right, So if there's someone tuning in right
now that is thinking of making that leap or taking
that next step and making that financial risk, what advice
would you give them before they take that step?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I honestly, you know, one of the core values I
thought was really important is first off, whatever you're deciding
to do, don't do it for the money one hundred percent.
That never gets you anywhere. To do it for the
passion that you're what's something that you're passionate about. And two,
really understand that the support systems around you in your life,
the relationships you build, you know, the connections that you create,
(19:21):
those are the things that really help in the end,
whether that's you know, a really supportive family member or
a supportive friend that's just out there being your number
one fair and those are those people that actually keep
you supported more than anything else, Because there's gonna be
days when you start something like this where you are like,
I'm freaking failing, okay, And then you know, the next
day you just get a bunch of text from them,
(19:41):
a bunch of different friends telling you all the different
things about you that they like, admire, whatever it is,
and then you're just like, okay, I can do this.
So good connections And what that doesn't mean like you know,
layers of society, I mean like the people that actually
are in your corner, your support system, who actually care.
Those are the most important people to have around you
when you're doing something like this because at the end
(20:03):
of the day, I think anyone can do it. I
really do. I just think that you know it's going
to be tough, and you have to know that it's
a challenge.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's great rights. So what's next? What's next for I
want to be pretty any exciting developments, expansions, anything to share.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yes, So, I mean we're looking on scaling right now,
which I'm super excited about. Also loving AI. I know
that this is a controversial conversation, but I am so excited.
I have a friend that is actually helping us develop
a facial scanner that can scan patients ahead of time
and then they can actually suggest some of the treatments.
Obviously they come in, we have a conversation ahead of time.
(20:39):
But the fun thing about that is it's like a
fun tool for people to use because you know, so
many people want to ask the question now without even
having to come in. So that's super exciting. We love
AI as long as it's used properly. But yeah, and
that that's been a huge one. And then also working
along with some new partners hopefully in the future, which
I'm super excited for. But that's the reps right.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Now sounds good. I know we covered a lot, but
if there was one thing you wanted our listeners to
take away about your mission about the company, what would
that be?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
M I think you have to be client focused when
it comes to any of these things, especially if you
want retention, you want the support. You could have one
hundred in different clients and that's going to be a
headache in your life. You want the experience to be
about the client. Always awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
If someone's tuning in that wants to learn more, maybe
they want to book an appoyment, what should they do?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Ah? Well, I love this because I got this domain
handle I want to be pretty dot com and that's
with two t's or three t's or you can follow
it ran Eric Nitssel on Instagram and you can always
ask questions please. I love answering questions. I love engaging
with people for any reason, whether it's consultations or business advice.
It's always just been something to help because as I
(21:53):
learned from people, you know, we learn fro each other
and we just help each other grow.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
That's awesome. I'll definitely be checking it out.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Are you coming?
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
All right, let's do what are we gonna do.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I don't know. Well, i'll have to do the AI scan.
You're pretty pretty already US will come. Yeah, a big
group trip. But Eric, thanks so much for being here today,
thanks for sharing your story. I've just congrats on all
the success and excited to see what's next.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
All right, thank you so much, Steve, thanks for having
me here of course
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And thank you all for tuning in to next week
for next week's episode
Hi, everyone, This is Steve Allison and welcome to this
youth's edition of CEOs. You should know I'm thrilled to
be joined by Eric, the CEO of I want to
be pretty Eric, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks for having me here today, Steve.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're excited to jump in and learn more about you
and of course more about the company.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Awesome. So, I know you went from eight years in
the ICU, especially during the heart of COVID, to launching
I want to be pretty tell us about that journey
and what was that one defining moment that really pushed
you to take the leap. I know that at the
time you only had ten thousand dollars in the bank account.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, that was kind of crazy. And if anyone has
ever had ten thousand dollars in the bank account and
made a leap like that, you understand how intense that
feeling is.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
So in the ICU, I spent a long time, you know,
working in the ICY, worked in the neuro ICU, and
then when COVID hit, which was one of the most
intense experiences, especially because we got hit. One of the
first hospitals that I got hit on the East Coast
with the COVID you know, patients. It was just a
really crazy experience. And you know, as a nurse and
then working in the medical field, you do end up
(00:57):
with a lot of empathy and experiences and feelings for
these pays and just seeing you know, the end of
life and almost like the worst experience all the time.
It was definitely like a little bit darker than I
ever wanted to live. You know, I kept thinking and
the end of my life was going to end up
in a hospital bed like this. So when I had
transitioned and I was doing aesthetics in the first place,
I noticed it was like able to make a difference,
(01:18):
make people happy, and also do a lot of ways
to create a preemptive things to get people into like
wellness and esthetics. And I felt like that was a
way of actually continuing on with the medical aspect, but
in a way that I actually could see you know,
the positive impact sure, instead of always seeing such the negative.
And you know, both experiences are great, and we you know,
(01:39):
obviously are frontline workers. It's super important that they're there
and doing that stuff. But it was just such a
nice transition to bring about a different type of change
in the medical field, and with ten thousand dollars in
the bank, that was crazy. I'm not gonna lie. I
remember the day that I decided to finally sign the
lease and just jump at it. My cousin came over.
I was telling her wha to open a business a
long time ago, but it was with my friend family, Like,
(02:02):
I didn't have much risk of it at that time.
But she sat me down and she was just like,
you just have to do it. You just like, if
you feel like you're gonna do it, you just have
to do it because once you jump in, you're just
going to keep going up. So we're not but just
have to do it. So yeah, that's kind of like
the start of this thing. And I can't believe I'm here, honestly,
and I can't believe. I look back in my life
and I'm like, I can't believe this. But all the
(02:22):
time the ICU and then all the way into this
completely different field, completely different experience. I mean, like it's
a whole different ballgame.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
That's awesome. Well, thank god you took that leap, right, Yeah,
And I know that being an entrepreneur isn't something that's
new you've really been doing it since childhood. Starting your
first business at ten, How did those experiences along the
way get you ready for the luxury company you have today?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well? Did that? Okay? So I told you what that
first business was, right, not? Oh my goodness, my first business.
I was like ten years old and I went to
a pet shop. Loved animals when I was a kid.
I went to a pet shop and I remember I
love to talk to people. I was three years old.
My mom told me I ran up to her or
I was four or five, can't even remember. Whenever you
(03:04):
can talk whenever, that is. I went up to my
mom and I said to her, I was like, I
just made a friend. It was so easy. And then
I ran back out came back up and I was like,
I made another friend. It's even easier. And she was like, oh,
this kid's like really outgoing. So that being said, I
was always having a fun time, like talking to people,
getting to know people. And I met the pet shop owners.
And this story is a little crazy because when I
(03:26):
met the pet shop owners, I just always was asking
inquisitive and asking questions. And I really liked the Gerbils
and I said, like, where do you get your journals
from Like I like, as a kid, like, why do
I need to know the wholesale costs of gerbils? Anyways,
they were like, oh, we get it from a breeder,
and I was like interesting. I bought the gerbils. I
went home, I got a book on breeding churpils, I
pad the gerbils and somehow talked to them about, hey,
(03:47):
can I sell some of those gerbils to you. I
don't know if that was legal, but I did it.
And even crazier at that point in time, one of
the other people there asked me if I wanted to
catch them some frogs and turtles and sell them to them,
and I was like yeah, So that was like my goal.
I made money as a little kid by like catching
animals selling them back. But the big part of that
was it was my first learning how to create relationships
(04:09):
and business. And I think that has something that's translated
across all this time because throughout all of the business
that I've had ever, it's always been about relationship building
and how you build trust foster you know, connection with people,
and that really just taught me at a young age.
If you have a connection conversation, sometimes you can find
a goal. It just gets you places like selling triples
(04:31):
and turtles in your young age.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Well, that's a wild story. I know that obviously we
learned from taking that risk originally with the ten thousand
dollars in the bank. Is that taking risks as part
of your mindset. I know that you are about to
compete a five day race along the Arctic Circle. How
does that risk taking mindset really translate into you being
a founder in the CEO?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So we're going to fast forward to the future because
I just finished that.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Oh nice. Let tell you.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Sometimes I think to myself and like, why do I
do this? But the reason, part of the reason I
even did that in the first place, is because I
love that. I love that challenge, and I'm not afraid
of the challenge. I love the experience and I love
seeing what's on the other side of that, whether it's
the views, whether it's experience that you have with people,
whether it's just satisfaction of the end of the challenge.
I think as an entrepreneur or a CEO, or whoever
you call yourself, you have to take risks and you
(05:23):
have to know that you have no control of the
outcome other than what you put yourself into and how
much work you put into it, and even sometimes then
it doesn't always work out. Yep. So that being said,
you know you have to I mean, and I'm not
going to say don't take calculated risks. That's stupid. You know,
I took time to plan for something like this, you
know it, and planning looks differently to everybody, you know,
(05:45):
Like for me planning to get into the esthetics business,
I spent time learning about it. I spent time creating
at least a good small amount of clients that were
so loyal that they would bring me more clients. Like,
even it was a small amount, it was enough to
actually continue to help support me. So even though we
say risk taking, it's more also preparation, right and doing
(06:07):
something like that or taking you know, taking that risk
of ten thousand dollars. You know, it's not like you
just jump and you're like, I'm taking a gamble here.
You know, you do take that time to prepare. But
the problem is that I think people prepare, prepare, prepare,
and they're always never taking a risk of taking the risk.
And that I have that with some of the people
that so I have mentors in my life, and I
have people that I coach, and sometimes with the people
(06:28):
that I coach, I'm always like I want to, like
spartan kick them, like right off the edge, like you
got this, But they're like, you know, they're learning and
they're at their own comfort zones. But you really, you know,
sometimes it's so easy to get in your head that
you're need to overprepare or underprepare. But at the end
of the day, like you know, sometimes it's just about
taking their dive.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's awesome. Congrats on that.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Thank you. That was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, we should go next time.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
I gotta check it out. All right, So let's talk
about the brand in the company, right. I know that
your brand in particular, it blends that clinical expertise with
that lug highly personalized experience. How do you train and
develop and lead your team to kind of balance those
two things, right, that medical trusted advice, but that elevated
guest experience.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Well, I'm going to say, and I've just like realized this,
as you know, sometimes you look at yourself you're like, oh,
how did they get there? But first off, you got
to keep it fun, Okay, because clinical environments, especially coming
from the hospital and going into esthetics. I think that
medicine in general, they you know, we have a different
mindset in the hospital, and sometimes it gets translated into
aesthetics so it gets too clinical, too tough. I feel
(07:31):
like nervous going into certain places. You just have you know,
those people here for service. You have to have fun.
On the clinical side, you know, you need to make
sure you're educated. You need to make sure you're putting
in the time and effort to learn things. You need
to make sure you know you're looking at evidence based research,
not just kind of reading everything else TikTok and following trends,
you know. But on the other side, you do need
to know that these people are here for a service.
(07:52):
They're here to feel good, look good. You know, they
might be going through a divorce, where they might be
going through a bad breakup, or a job law. You know,
they don't want them feel extra clinical. It's like kind
of sterile. So you want to make sure you keep
things fun. And that's why I called the brand I
Want to Be Pretty. So it was just like, all right,
what is just like casual and funny about this? And
that's where I just went. I was like let's keep
(08:13):
it fun, Let's keep it elevated. I wear pink gloves
because I think it's just like an added little touch
where it's just like it's not some crazy sterile glove
in your face. It's like, oh, we're here to We're
here to have a good time.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's fun. Well, I know I want to be pretty.
You emphasize that natural not doune look, right, And I
know that in the industry sometimes is really driven by
like dramatic transformations. How do you innovate while staying true
to that philosophy.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
That's so fascinating to well, So, first off, innovation does
not mean following any type of trend, right, And I
always say, like this might mean not be a great example,
but I think Chanelle like holds a very nice, long
classic you know timeline of always kind of staying somewhat
in trend because they keep the same concept of what
(08:57):
is classic, but they have like small alterations here and there,
and the same with you know, esthetics. You treat people
like a Bonzie tree. This is the weirdest analogy, but
you treat people like a Bonzie tree. You ever ever
cut a Bonsie tree before?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
All right, we're gonna Steve. You have so many fun
things to do together, all right. So a Bonzie tree,
when I learned, when you cut a bonsiye tree, it's
not about cutting it into the shape that you want it, right,
It's about actually following the natural curves and ebbs and
flows of the bon Sie tree and then bringing out
in it the energy that you want to see. So
if the tree wants to go like this, you just
help it go like that a little better, and you know,
get off the little things that are like not focused
(09:32):
and whatnot. So when you look at a person's face,
like at the end of the day, they have their
own natural features, right, we get so quickly to like
wash all that away and in the aesthetics and everyone
starts to look a little cookie cutter. You know, you
just kind of follow the flow of that person's face
and what they you know, what they're trying to bring out.
You ask them what they do, You ask them what
you're looking for. But that being said, innovation can come
(09:55):
with new technology, new procedures. Just because these new technol
cologies are out doesn't mean we can. We have to
chase them, and you know, do like the lip trend
making someone look very like you know, I don't know
how to say this without putting names out there. My
PR person would get thrown into this. My PR person
(10:15):
be in the back of my head. But I no,
I would say, like, you don't like everyone looking like
the snapschat filters. You want. You're for people to have
a little bit of characters to their face because in
the long run, ten fifteen years later, they're gonna want,
you know, and they might things might change in their life.
They're going to want to still be able to see themselves.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Yep. Speaking of innovations, I know that you offer every
service from botox to other procedures like PRP. To your point,
there's so many different trends out there on TikTok and
within the beauty space. How do you carefully select which
innovations you want to bring into the practice.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
I try to stay with everything that has a large
amount of data on it. It's safe and I know
that in the long run, these treatments aren't going to
be harm as much to my knowledge that these people
as possible. So treatments like PRP, it's been around for
a long time. It's been used in multiple different settings,
and it's from yourself to yourself. You know, we know
(11:11):
that it's not it's not like introducing medications or other impacts,
which which can be fine, but just saying like that,
we know that's good. And I have a young demographic
of patients, so my primary thought process is always like,
what's this person if she's starting so young twenty five,
twenty four, sometimes, what's going to happen if we start
(11:31):
so young? You know, we have to make sure all
the treatments are not going to affect her that when
she's in her thirties or forties, it's going to be
of detriment or cauture to have to get other types
of treatments to correct the things that happened earlier. So
that's one thing. And also I've tried everything that I
put out there on myself at least once, and if
I like it and I see it work, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Okay, there we go doing first hand research.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Which is crazy because when I started it's like ten
years ago, I was like doing it to myself and
that was that was an experience. Yeah, yeah, don't recommend that, guys.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So I know that in the last nine months, you've
generated nearly nine million dollars in revenue.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Congratulations, that's so crazy because it's much less than that.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
That's the fat. I mean, do that one.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Again, a million. So we do. We doe seven figures
from ten thousand in the bank to seven figures.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
All right, Yeah, sounds good. Ready, I love that.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You want. Let's let's do nine million.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Let's go for it, all right. I know in the
last nine months you've went from ten thousand dollars in
revenue seven figures. Yeah, and you also have a really
high rebooking rate at seventy five percent. What are those
core strategies that led you to that traction and also
to that loyalty with your consumers?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
All right? So you know, whenever we talk about something
like this, the reason I even think that was such
an interesting when I looked at that was like, holy shit,
that came up to me because all the time I
spent in the U, you know, building that skill of
empathy and then translating it to understanding how patients feel
in the chair, how patients feel when they're talking about
their vulnerabilities, or how patients feel about walking in walking out,
(13:05):
and making sure that what's implemented so that every day
they're coming in, they're feeling like a rock star. And
that once I caught on to how to make sure
that my patients felt like rock stars because on the
end of the day, you're coming in, you know, if
you ever get a good haircut, you know you feel
fresh because half the time your barber's there letting you speak,
making you feel good, and you walk out you feel
like a million bucks. Right, So, same same thing. You know,
(13:28):
you go in there, you let your patients talk, You
have a fun time with your patients. You really empathize
and understand what they're going through, which can look in
like in so many different ways, but anyways, that kind
of translates to the patients being like, I feel so
good coming into the space. I know I can trust
this person. I know this person takes care of me.
I want to come back yep, you know, and within
(13:48):
reason because actually this is some of my patients whatever
get you know, catch on to this. But there's patients
sometimes I'm like, you don't need to come back for
a little bit, but I can just tell they just
want to come back into the space. They want to
just have that experience. And sometimes I'm just like, you
can come by for we can go get a coffee
or something very different experience.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's awesome. And I know we talked a little bit
about the name earlier, right, I want to be pretty.
It's fun it's bold, but the mission is much deeper.
It helps with both external and internal improvement for your customers.
How do you com communicate that to new clients as
they walk through those doors.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
It's funny because I want to be pretty name it
sounds so superficial and shallow, which was like obviously what
it's supposed to be. It's like you stand out, you know,
a little camp. But at the end of the day,
my ethos or thought process between pretty was pretty. It
was just the idea of how much you work on
yourself internally and externally to be a better person every
day and that can look like a one percent change
every day. And when it comes down to patients coming
(14:49):
in and getting treatments, we kind of always talk about
the plan, the goal, you know, setting up a structure
that's going to help them in the long run, whether
that's micro needling or whether that it's better health habits,
whether that's you know, taking on you know, a supplement
if they need it, Like we don't want to push anything,
but I'm just saying, like anything, that they need to
make an all inclusive treatment. But that also translates to
(15:12):
once they start doing stuff for themselves like that. You
notice that there was actually a study on this. I
have to quote this because I'm want to say it.
I always say you have to have the quote. But
they showed that people who got treatments actually really fascinating
when they got botox treatments, there was a thirty percent
decrease in depression and anxiety and increase in life satisfaction
with them first twenty four hours of the treatment, not
related to the actual treatment. And I thought this was
(15:34):
so fascinating because that allowed also people to make other
changes in their life like this is you know, I
don't say this happens to everyone, but like quit smoking
or make better health habit choices. So that was the
ethos doesn't have to connect communicated straight to the patient.
It's just quickly and quietly changing some of those habits
(15:55):
to actually create a bigger effect. I think they had
this thing, Oh my god, I can't remember, but I
believe that it was the subway systems when they were
having issues with crime and they decided to take away
the graffiti instead of anything else in that decreased crime.
It's just sometimes the littlest thing that you can do
to help change, you know, and help someone focus their
efforts into a different aspect can change so many mother
(16:18):
habits in their life. Yeah, so that's where the that's
one of the ethos that we carry is like, we're
not Yeah, I'm not trying to make you look different.
I'm just trying to help you start thinking about what
caring for yourself would look like.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Love that. I know we talked about this a little
bit earlier. That a lot of your clientele are younger
or maybe they're first timers. How do you feel you
want to track that audience? And then too, what is
your long term strategy for them to continue to be patients.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah? That is so fun because I'm really lucky to
have such a young demographic of clients. Because one, they're
much more receptive to education in the beginning, and they're
much more comfortable with talking about it. So there's two things.
One they tell their friends, which is nice you've met
back different generations. They might not tell everyone. They're like, oh,
(17:06):
how does Sandy look so good? She's aging. Well. This generation,
they're all like about like, oh yeah, Mike Green, youa dilling,
I got this, you know, talking about it, which has
been I'm really grateful for that, and I'm happy for that.
But setting up plans ahead of time and just starting
people in healthy habits, whether it's onscreen, you know, you
know when we talk about treatments like my Greneleion PRP,
(17:27):
something that's super simple but also really effective. Just setting
them up on plans and not saying like you need
to do so much all the time, and she's like,
if you do this and one more treatment every year,
you know, they just start with a healthy plan and habit.
And the other thing is I try to also keep
them from going all over the place with their skincare
routine because oh my goodness, there's so much stuff on
(17:47):
the market and it's so easy to buy all this stuff,
and their poor skin is getting but pliterated with like
all different creams and stuff. So we try to also
get them to understand the core basics of what's in
a skincare cream that works for them so that they
don't feel like every marketing you know, experience is going
to make them want to buy it, if that makes sense.
So those are some of the things that help when
(18:08):
they're younger, and also just learning to be conservative. Yeah,
and also pumping the brakes because they come in wanting
everything sometimes and you're just like, Okay, let's take.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
It all the way step by step. I'll do one
thing at a time. That's probably why you have a
seventy five percent retention.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, definitely, and they really appreciate that. I think that's
one of the things I hear that a lot from
my clients is that because I say no, which is
really fun, like wait, but yeah, saying you have to
say no to your clients a lot, just you know,
not in a way of like stopping them from treatment,
but just saying like, I think you need to just
take a second, go home and think about this. Yeah,
(18:41):
maybe we'll come and revisit it makes it all sense.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Obviously, we talked about your gerbil business when you're ten
years old, right, So if there's someone tuning in right
now that is thinking of making that leap or taking
that next step and making that financial risk, what advice
would you give them before they take that step?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I honestly, you know, one of the core values I
thought was really important is first off, whatever you're deciding
to do, don't do it for the money one hundred percent.
That never gets you anywhere. To do it for the
passion that you're what's something that you're passionate about. And two,
really understand that the support systems around you in your life,
the relationships you build, you know, the connections that you create,
(19:21):
those are the things that really help in the end,
whether that's you know, a really supportive family member or
a supportive friend that's just out there being your number
one fair and those are those people that actually keep
you supported more than anything else, Because there's gonna be
days when you start something like this where you are like,
I'm freaking failing, okay, And then you know, the next
day you just get a bunch of text from them,
(19:41):
a bunch of different friends telling you all the different
things about you that they like, admire, whatever it is,
and then you're just like, okay, I can do this.
So good connections And what that doesn't mean like you know,
layers of society, I mean like the people that actually
are in your corner, your support system, who actually care.
Those are the most important people to have around you
when you're doing something like this because at the end
(20:03):
of the day, I think anyone can do it. I
really do. I just think that you know it's going
to be tough, and you have to know that it's
a challenge.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
It's great rights. So what's next? What's next for I
want to be pretty any exciting developments, expansions, anything to share.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Yes, So, I mean we're looking on scaling right now,
which I'm super excited about. Also loving AI. I know
that this is a controversial conversation, but I am so excited.
I have a friend that is actually helping us develop
a facial scanner that can scan patients ahead of time
and then they can actually suggest some of the treatments.
Obviously they come in, we have a conversation ahead of time.
(20:39):
But the fun thing about that is it's like a
fun tool for people to use because you know, so
many people want to ask the question now without even
having to come in. So that's super exciting. We love
AI as long as it's used properly. But yeah, and
that that's been a huge one. And then also working
along with some new partners hopefully in the future, which
I'm super excited for. But that's the reps right.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Now sounds good. I know we covered a lot, but
if there was one thing you wanted our listeners to
take away about your mission about the company, what would
that be?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
M I think you have to be client focused when
it comes to any of these things, especially if you
want retention, you want the support. You could have one
hundred in different clients and that's going to be a
headache in your life. You want the experience to be
about the client. Always awesome.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
If someone's tuning in that wants to learn more, maybe
they want to book an appoyment, what should they do?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Ah? Well, I love this because I got this domain
handle I want to be pretty dot com and that's
with two t's or three t's or you can follow
it ran Eric Nitssel on Instagram and you can always
ask questions please. I love answering questions. I love engaging
with people for any reason, whether it's consultations or business advice.
It's always just been something to help because as I
(21:53):
learned from people, you know, we learn fro each other
and we just help each other grow.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
That's awesome. I'll definitely be checking it out.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Are you coming?
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
All right, let's do what are we gonna do.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I don't know. Well, i'll have to do the AI scan.
You're pretty pretty already US will come. Yeah, a big
group trip. But Eric, thanks so much for being here today,
thanks for sharing your story. I've just congrats on all
the success and excited to see what's next.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
All right, thank you so much, Steve, thanks for having
me here of course
Speaker 1 (22:18):
And thank you all for tuning in to next week
for next week's episode
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