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It’s Smart to Start with a Botox®-ONLY Course

It’s tempting to take Botox® and Fillers together

You’re excited to get started with your aesthetics practice. You want to hit the ground running. Makes sense to just take Botox and Fillers at the same time, right? WRONG! Take it from someone who has been there. It is wiser to start with one skill first. Let me explain why, in my personal opinion, it’s best to start with a Botox-only class.

Be smart with your start-up money

Expect to pay about 10k to get your Botox Business off ground. I break down where all the cash goes here. Even though the financial barrier to entry on this is very reasonable, the expenses do add up! You want to invest in a quality entry Botox-Only Course and be ready to travel for that.

Remember a single vial of Botox is just over $600! Those babies are an investment. And there are incentives to place larger orders to get sample vials. So it is constantly an assessment of how much product can you confidently use before that vial will expire. My average tox orders are 12-16k each.

When you first start there is a LOT of cash flowing out and not a lot flowing in. Offset this by not stretching your money to cover a dermal fillers course and the cost of ordering dermal fillers themselves. Each syringe is about $300-$400. Typically it’s a 6 syringe minimum order to get free shipping. And it takes a wider array of products to stock as you do not use the same product to augment the cheek as you do in the lips for example. My average filler orders are $6-12k each.

As you start your business, you are not only learning how to be a proficient injector but also how to run the financials of your business. Getting a good hold on your expenses and income for Botox-only services first will provide a better understanding of your financial picture.

Be smart with your time investment

The one thing more precious than money in your business is time! The to-do list most days feels never-ending. There are 24 hours in a day. Most APRNs I work with are both working another job and a parent. Even just one of these factors will definitely eat into the hours it will take to start your business. For every one hour your spend injecting expect double that in admin time in the beginning.

It takes time to dedicate to study and practice the injecting skills. It takes time to set up all of your medical and pharmaceutical accounts. It takes time to build your network and connections. Setting up and learning your electronic charting, policies and procedures, any necessary permits, scope of practice questions, OSHA compliance, sharps removal, ordering supplies, social media, marketing, building a website, business cards, menus, pricing, and the list of tasks of getting your Botox business lifted off the ground really goes on-and-on.

Adding on the extra tasks to learn and implement fillers at the start is going to almost double that list! So knock out the Botox-only start-up list as quickly as you can, and THEN go back for that filler class.

Consider demand for Botox vs Fillers

Spoiler alert: the demand is much greater for Botox! This is the gateway drug for most people. It’s what people google and ask their friends about. Then when someone says they want Botox to fix their depleted cheeks, you let them know the treatment for that is in fact dermal fillers.

Providing a quality Botox treatment to your clients will build their trust in you. It’s not easy to build your skills to the point where your Botox treatments are consistently on-point. This and only this should be your main clinical focus at first. Your clients are not going to trust you with a longer-lasting treatment like dermal fillers if they don’t trust you. So build that trust by being the Botox expert for them.

botox-only course injecting

Build your client list

“If you build it they will come.” NOT!! It takes a ton of work to build your client list. And again Botox is what attracts most of those first-time clients. Marketing is an essential part of almost any business. One effective and free method is social media posting. I got most of my first clients from posting in local moms’ Facebook groups. This guerilla marketing is time-consuming but quite effective.

Offer Botox-Parties. This is a service many established providers do not offer. It means evenings and weekends, which many other providers are not willing to offer. The best part of a Botox Party is you just have to recruit one client and they recruit the rest (make sure to set a minimum number for your host to receive a perk). And again, you build your client list by providing excellent and consistent Botox treatments.

Master the facial anatomy

One element that sets a great injector apart from a good injector is the in-depth understanding of facial anatomy. Understanding how different tox products work differently and matching the right product to the right client. This understanding comes from reading, watching, and practicing. Neurotoxin is incredibly precise work. Even more so than fillers in my opinion. And that understanding of the muscles of the face will be your foundation for learning dermal fillers.

Complication Severity for Botox vs Fillers

The stakes are definitely higher for dermal fillers. About the worst thing you can do with Botox is causing someone a droopy eyelid for a couple of months. This can be very upsetting for clients and providers. Guess what, you can actually blind someone with dermal fillers. Thankfully this is incredibly rare, and avoidable if you are conservative in the areas you choose to treat. However much more common is the occurrence of a vascular occlusion that prevents blood flow to a portion of the skin. If this is not treated, that skin can become necrotic and die leaving disfiguring scarring.

You should not inject dermal fillers until you have a vascular occlusion treatment protocol, reversal agent and referral plan ready. A single vascular occlusion can take a large number of vials of Hylenex reversal agent. Keeping this amount on hand is pricey. It is beneficial if you can connect with another injector in your area who could help in case this emergency arises, who also has Hylenex on hand. You also want to have access to a more experienced provider or plastic surgeon, etc. in case there is a vascular occlusion you are unable to fix on your own.

As you can see, it takes a significant infrastructure and know-how to start to offer dermal fillers safely. This is not to scare you, you will be ready for this step! Just probably not on the same day you take your first Botox-Only Course.

woman in white long sleeve shirt lying on bed, botox-only training

Mobile option when starting with Botox-only

It is possible to start completely concierge mobile with Botox at first. I do think most people quickly will want some sort of office space, however. I started out just sub-leasing a single room a couple of days a week. The supplies needed to provide Botox treatments are easy to transport. It is a clean procedure that can be done in any clean environment.

Dermal fillers are categorized as a sterile implant by the FDA. This is a sterile procedure that needs to be done in an office setting. If there was ever litigation surrounding a filler procedure done in someone’s home, that would not look good at all! You need to physically be in an office space figured out before you take that intro to dermal fillers class.

When should you invest in a Filler Course?

Once you have your Botox client base, you have an office space, you have a referral network, and the money and time to implement dermal fillers, you are ready to enroll in a dermal fillers introductory course. There are some great dermal filler courses I recommend which include Aura Academy, Rana Kennelly, and Aesthetic Mentor to name a few. I am currently working on an Injectables EDU Dermal Fillers Course as well! But do yourself a favor and take a Botox-only class first!

Looking to get started in aesthetics?

Check out some of our most popular articles:
How Much Money Can You Make Injecting Botox
How Much Does it Cost to Start a Botox Business
Supplies Needed for Botox Injections

And when you are ready, book a Free mentoring call with Cassie

And train with Injectables EDU online or in-person!

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Cassie Lane and Suzanne Jagger Founders of Injectables EDU

Meet the co-founders of Injectables EDU: Suzanne Jagger, DNP, CRNA, and Cassie Lane, CRNA, DNAP

Suzanne, a seasoned nurse with over 20 years of experience, founded Aura Academy, prioritizing personalized care and safety. Cassie, co-creator of the Elite NP Aesthetics Course, brings her patient care expertise to the aesthetics world. Together, they lead Injectables EDU, providing top-tier education in injectables.

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