Building a Beauty Empire. From 0 to 180k profit in 8 month and beyond

[Kokaka]

Hi all.
So this year has been a ride and Im thinking about writing a progress blogg to get input but also to organise my days. Maybe I will get some good advice and maybe others can get some ideas.
This all started in june last year with my first business which was a beauty clinic where we rented a room in an existing clinic with just my partner who did treatments, turnover was about 5k a month and 1k profit. In december, I got the idea that I could sell machines to beauty clinics to others. The advantage with this was that I could buy machines from myself for the purchasing price and sell to others for retail price, at 30k for basic machines. Win-win.
Took a 3 day business trip across the world to a company that sell machines and one business lunch later, I had an agency.
In december, I made 110k in sales with 35k in profit from 3 machine sales. I put the profit info opening my own Beauty Clinic in February.
This was fantastic since I was a struggling med-student with 0 capital with alot of student debt so having this 35k was a godsend.

From february to may, the machine sales dried up due to covid and I could not get any more sales. This made me focus on the clinic and after 1 month, we where fully booked. However, it was just my partner working there and me in the reception and she made a turnover of about 15k with 10k profit / month. After 6 weeks of being opend, we had a 4 week waiting list. It increased to 6 weeks after being opend for 2 month.
Why? Because I had broken the "Entry Barrier" of CENTS. Because I could get machines for the purscasing price and lease from myself, I opend with the most advanced beauty clinic in my state. I opend a fully functioning clinic from day 1 with services that would have taken years of profit to invest in for a normal business. Most of my competitors had 1 machine, we had 4, and after a little while, I leased 2 more from myself.
This oviously led to a problem of Scale. I had all the machines that I would ever need but only 1 person working in the clinic. With a waiting list of 6 weeks, I had to hire staff. This was not easy. We had countless intreviews but no one was good enough. However, my partner rememberd a college who worked at another clinic nearby who apparently was fantastic in every way. 1 phone call away and an offer to increase her salary by 200usd, she started at our clinic the month after. I also hired a nurse part time which I knew from my time at the ICU working with the covid patients.

During this last month, the machine company got going again with a few very lucrative deals which lended a total turnover of 290k with 140k profit total. And still has 2 orders pending which if accepted by the bank will net another 60k profit and 120k in turnover. Even better, this business only cost me 500usd a month so the margin is great.

However, after the first big orders came in a month ago, I just hit a wall. From working 12-16hour a day year after year. First in medschool which I failed again and again, to getting and recovering from depression, anxeiety and burnout, to trying to pass the exam while working in the ICU with the covid patients, opening 2 businesses and making them succeed. To the removal of years of stress now that I know I can finaly pay my bills every month, buy a car and offer a good life for me and my family.

So now, since I got my employee which we have trained to be the clinic manager, I only work just a few hours a week. However, I have done almost no work for the last month, even though the money keep coming in and I am just in bed or on the couch. However, I feel the recovery time is soon up so I have made a strategy to come back on track because I think Im onto something big.

I have 1 goal which for me is very obvious:
Create a beauty Empire with advanced beauty clinics of 1000 clinics world wide, create my own machines which will accompany the clinics and create a brand of cosmetics which I sell online and in the clinics.
So I guess alot of you are asking. Why focus on the clinics and not machines? The machines has made you 140k in 8 month in profit with maybe another 60k on the way.
The answes is value. I have come to understand that value is worth more than money.
The Clinics a better business model, even though it makes less money now. If we look at CENTS, I can break every criteria. The machine company will soon reach its limit and a limit of its value. I am also passionate in building clinics and not in selling machines. I can fix the value problem with the machines by making my own brand, but I can only choose 1 business now and the clinics has way better long term potential.
Lets break down why:

Entry - Easy, I have my machines which I buy from myself at a big discount. We also break Entry by our skills and knowlage in the area. Im halfway through medschool which has helped alot with the product of the clinic. My partner has studied beauty and cosmetology for 4 years at a university so all in all. An A+ team with knowledge far superior than my competitors.
Need - Easy, every clinic I open is the most advanced beauty clinic there is with the most services and better prices than my competitors.
Scale - Open a few with direct ownership, later franchise. Scaling is unlimited because people across the world want to look nice.
Control + Time - This is the tricker part. Thankfully, I have gotten a mentor from a country owned mentor program which helps new, aspiring businesses for free (!). She owns all McDonalds in my state and has about 800 employees and countless restaurants. McDonalds is famous for having one of the best inftastructure systems in the world so we are working on copying as much as possible to apply to my clinic(s). This will in turn have good controll and time management.

I am also looking to sell the machine company because I dont like it that much and my broker has valued it to about 1 million, he also belives he has a few old clients of his who is very interested in purschasing it. Then I can turn the profit I make from selling the machine business into scaling the Clinics at super sonic speed.
I have calculated that it cost me 50k to open a clinic. It will give me a profit of about 100k-150k a year on avarage. So about 200-300% return of investment yearly.

To reach this goal I have come up with a strategy.

Short term goals:

Mental and physical health.

• Start excercising again on monday (was very active before with both martial arts and gym)
• Wake up 07:00 every day, starting monday.
• No alcohol for 1 week
• No sugar for 1 week
• Pick up Unscribted

Business

• Change logos on my clinic because I am building a brand and copywriting the name. Hence I have to change the branding.
• Have training with my mechanics on some new machines to offer service and repairs for my customers.
• Start a marketing campaign for my machine company
• Improve my clinic website
• Correct mail adress to my clinic and machine company
• Fix the phone rederection line to my mechanics
• Control parent leave for employee
• Double check AC bill
• Check the possibility to make a webshop for my machine website to sell small items
• Create a graphic profile for the clinic site
• Create an instagram and facebook page for the machine company
• Get my bookkeeping in order

Medium term goals

Mental and physical

• Excercise minimun 3 days/week
• No dopamine stimulants (Alcohol, sugar, porn etc.) for 1 month
• Finish the book
• Eat clean for 1 month

Business goals

• Close the current deals for the machine company
• Create a webshop for the machine company if it is doable/profitable
• Sign the deal for the 2'nd clinic
• Find employees for the 2nd clinic
• Market the 2nd clinic

Long term goals

• Have a healthy, active but balanced lifestyle
• Increase my private and my business network and make new friends and colleges

Business goals

• Sell the machine company
• Open 3+ other clinics, then franschise
• Open a cosmetic company
• Open a company that develop machines from scratch and brand it.

I have also learnt alot during my months in business.

1 Business can be a lot of work, 2 is overwhelming at times.
I have learnt that a business can be alot of work but not in the way people normally think. There is always some small thing that needs to be done, from paying bills, closing deals, buying toilet paper, fix the heating to daily work. It is not the total time that is overwhelming, it is just that there are so many small decition/tasks that you have to do. And especially for me who is a new entrepreneur, it has been tough to keep up and I forget things at times. I have however found that the solution is to write everything down on a list.
Luckely, theese two business was very, very similar and ultra synergistic. However, I would never dream of opening 2 business at the same time that is not super compatible, if that.

Get a suit.
From what I have experienced, I really do believe everything became possible because from thefirst day I started the journey into fastlane, I have always had a suit on. From meeting with the bank, leasing companies, consultants, customers etc. The power of the suit should not be underestimated. Just from negotiation, I have probably saved 10-20k. People treat you better if you wear a suit and in turn, lower their prices, give better deals etc. However, you need to get a few things for it to work:

• Charcoal suit if you are young, Navy if you are old. It till make you look older/younger
• Black or brown leather shoes
• Matching leather belt
• White or light blue dress shirt
• Some tie
• Pocket square that has some of the colour of the tie, shirt, suit or leather
• Suit has to be 100% wool
• You have to tailor you suit
• The brand is not important, you can get it second hand. As long as fits 100%, and then, you take it to the tailor to make it fit 110%
• Get a dress watch

Try to get a mentor
This has helped alot. I meet my mentor 1 time every month and alot of the time, it is not very productive. No one will give you a ready blueprint which you can follow. However, she has told me a few ideas that can probably be summarised by 2 sentences which has changed the way I see how to do business on a larger scale

Consultants will probably suck
I have met so many consultants that does not live up to my expectations. Most of the time, they do a job, I am not happy and I learn their skill and do a better job. Then I have to teach them how to do their job. The solution to this I have learnt is to do a thourough background check before you hire them. See earlier work etc.

Always negotiate
If you get a price, that is not the price you will pay. You can lower it by 10-20%, every time. Remember the suit? Get one.

Marketing is important
Marketing is super important. I am fully booked in part of my marketing strategy. Understand SEO and have a consultant do it for you or learn it yourself and save cash.

If starting a business, learn webdesign, photoshop or Fiverr.
Paying someone to build a website for you can be expensive. Learn it yourself, it will probably be better anyway. Learn photoshop too.
If not. Fiverr.com is great for content.

If you break Entry in CENTS, you will become rich.
If you are able to break the Entry in CENTS, you have a business worthy of pursuing. like, how difficult is it for your competitors? Can you make it easier/cheaper for yourself. You very may be on your way to something big.

There might be 2 ways of thinking, try to find what works for you.
I have been thinking about business psychology during theese last months and I believe that there are people that think "wide" and people who think "tall".

Wide is people who want to do magnitude, find a decent product and then scale it, opening many but smaller things. Example Howard Schulz of Starbucks. Not nececary the best product but many of it. Because of amount of mass in the businesses, he can scale exponentially and cut prices and streamline the process.

Tall is people that want to focus on the one product. Example MJ DeMarco with his online taxi site. 1 but better product.

If I where to give advice, I would try to first understand if you are a "Wide" or a "Tall" thinker.
I am a "Wide" thinker. I want to open wide and more clinics. My partner is a "Tall" thinker, she just want to improve the clinic(s).
If you are trying to find a business idea, this might give some insight.

Be the stupidest person in the room all the time every time.
Always ask questions. Try to learn. Dont be afraid to let people explain things. Doing so will teach you so much.

Business is not for everyone and not everyone is for business
This is something I have really noticed. I have met alot of entrepreneurs this year but a majority does not understand business. You need to have a certain grasp on how things work and I believe you cant learn it in a book or in a class. It is something that has to be figured out and not everyone does. No shame in that and people is destined for various things. I for example is not destined to become a doctor, no shame in that. Tried and failed. But life has showed another path.

Its a fun ride and you dont know where you end up
When I was younger, I was 5 years in the military as a combat and demolition diver among other things. Later worked abit as a bartender/DJ, went to Med School to become a doctor, failed and now my priorities is what colour of womans nail-polish we will use. Life can be interesting and if you are on one path today, it can lead to another tommorow. Just adapt and enjoy the ride.

 

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[Kokaka]

This is one of the best threads I've ever read. Extremely inspiring. Hats off, and best of luck to you! Please keep us posted!

Also the suit part really got me thinking. I'm in IT and I have very few client meetings, and clients also are usually dressed very casually. But I've long wanted to dress better regardless. I like wearing a suit. Might just start doing it. I just know very little about fashion and suits, any good suggestion for getting started?

Thanks. Glad you like it and welcome aboard.

YES! Get a suit. It will be your best investment for this year.
This video is by far the best one out there about beginner suit users:

View: https://youtu.be/bEddhMSO0ps

Other good channels is:
He spoke style
Teachingmensfashion
The old videos from Alpha M
Gentlemans Gasette.

It open so many doors when you look like a million bucks.
Like today, I was invited by my old broker to a business network meeting. There where everything from medium to big business owners there. However, i was the only one in suit, and when I suit up, its very fashion minded (I have had a burning interest in this style of fashion for 8 years so I take alot of rules, break them and make the style my own). I like to compare it to a business Connor Mcgregor style, whom his suit game is the best in the business.

Anyway, everyone in this meeting was dressed down, except for the females who where perfect. The men however. Dirty T-shirts, casual, missfitted sportsjackets etc, except for one gentleman. Really stylish casual style.
So what happend. Everyone there where seasoned businessmen, except for me who have no Idea what I am doing. Regardless, I got all attention and admiration. It was way disproportionate.
Got to speak with everyone, everyone wanted my number, know about my business etc. I observed the big majority of men got ignored.
Also got to speak to the stylish man also, he has had a plastic surgery business before so might be a good contact for the future.
But yeah, dress sharp. It opens many doors and you play life on easy mode. Especially in business where the suit has fallen out of fassion.

Check the rules as described earlier in this thread, you cant go wrong with those basics, later you build upon them.

Also, practise waring the suit in public before you use it in a business meeting. Chances are you will feel anxuois and unsure. It will go away. Also take note of how people treat you when wearing a suit. Like ordering a coffee becomes an event.

If I where you, I would get the following items considering you have none:

Business casual outfit

Suit: Navy suit. - You are in your mid 30s, so you can use any colour. But navy is the most flexible.
try one size smaller than you would normally use. If you think you are eg EU52, try an EU50. Chances are it will look better. Fit is king. Remember, Fit, Fabric, Function. Also 100% wool. Brand is not important. I have cheap suits that are 10x better than ex HUGO BOSS for a fraction of the price. Dont pay premium for a sticker.

Shirt: 2 white shirts, 1 light blue shirt. Same as above, size down and/or go for slim fit.
You can play around with paatterns later on. Now we just cover the basics.
Also 1 dark gray and 1 black turtle neck to combine with the suit. Looks stunning

Shoes: Dark brown or black leather or suade. Leather needs to be 100% leather, suade can be fake if you want to save money. Never buy fake leather, looks really cheap.
I would go for a more business casual style because your profession alows for it. A suit is super formal nowdays so dress it down.
I would go for Doubble Monkstraps (my personal favourite), brogues or loafers. You can go for oxfords aswell if you want a more conservative look.
If the weather is bad now where you live, get a pair of chealsy boots or dress boots. You can use theese with the suit.

Belt: Matching belt with your shoes. You could get 2 if budget allowed. One plain and one knitted.

Pants: Dark slim/taperd jeans. You can use the suit jacket as a sports jacket (what people mistakenly call a Blazer) in the beginning. Later buy a dedicated sports jacket.

Watch: Silver/dark/gunmetal watch. I recommend full metal because if has a leather strap, it should combine with your shoes.

Tie Bar: Get one dark metal or a metal that combine with your watch. Dont have to be expensive, you can get it of ASOS for 20 euros.

Tie: Atleast one. Base dark blue with a small repeating pattern. Make sure its 100% silk in the beginning. But you can get as many as you want.

Pocket square: 1 white, the rest can be any colours as long as it has some blue and or white in them. Brown/browhinsh red if you have brown shoes can also work.

Casual:

Pants: White jeans

Shoes: White sneakers

Shirt: White T-shirt

Belt: Cotton belt with some blue in it. Can have other colours aswell, like blue, white and red. The brown knitted belt work here too.

Acessories: Leather necklase with a pendant, leather, wood, metal bracelets. You can get them of asos for like 5euros.

With the casual style, you can be super flexible.

Outfit1: The suit, white T-shirt, white sneakers (no socks) and the necklase, watch and bracelets and some nice sunglasses during warmer days. See how your girlfriend and other people react with this style. You will be pleasently surprised.

Outfit 2: White/blue jeans with a dress shirt. If you like this, get a shirt with Bengal Lines aswell and/or dark colour shirt. Will also work with the Business Casual suit. Now you can buy a black knitted tie aswell. Use Loafers or Double Monk Straps with white jeans. Blue jeans can use white sneakers

Outfi3 3: Use the navy suit pants with just a white T-shirt or suit and your shoise of shoes.

Outfit 4: White jeans, light blue shirt, suit jacket, brown shoes.

The combinations is endless from a small amount of clothes.

Pro tip: Basics dont cost alot. I have most of my basics (except for suit and leather weares) from H&M.
The rest I buy from outlets.
At the outlets, they sell everything up to a 90% discount because its last years fashion. No one will see the difference and no one cares as long as you get the basics right.
I have a fashion outlet about 2 our train ride from where I live. I get suits there for 90euros that normally cost 600euros. Shoes for 50euro that retail for 400-500 euro.
Branded watches sells for nothing on Ebay. I will buy a Hugo Boss watch later which sells in Italy for 100USD.
So yeah. You can get a couple of real good items for the same price as a pair of full price Levis Jeans if you know where to look and what to spend your money on.

And if you like this, you can really up your game and do a "Steve Harvey"

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GW3LZRdBez0


(He got the black suit wrong though, get a charcoal one instead)

 

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[Kokaka]

Some updates:

Machine company:
Have some leads, we will see what happens.
Had alot of service errands this month. This stressed me the f**k out before since service and maintinance was something I felt I was lacking. Now I have a fully stocked workshop, technicians and infrastructure that can fix the machines in no time. All stress momens has now gone away from this business.
I consider this business a sucessfull Stage III - D according to Harward Business Review (very good article and read if you are an entrepreneur)

The Five Stages of Small-Business Growth

No researcher has explored the earliest period of a business’s development in detail—until now.

hbr.org

Clinic Company:
We continue to slay past records. The new business model is killing it. By lowering our prices and focusing on volume over quality, we are able to scale fast now. Has hired 1 new person and probably 1-2 more on the way. Currently 12 people working in this company now.

Has gotten the contract for 2 new clinics. One to expand clinic nr1 and another to open clinic nr 3. Will travel to another city to try to open clinic nr 4. One of our veteran staff has agreed to relocate to clinic nr 4 city if we raise her salary a little. Everybody win.

Tring to go from stage II to stage III-G and the stage IV

The Five Stages of Small-Business Growth

No researcher has explored the earliest period of a business’s development in detail—until now.

hbr.org

This inflasion recesion has been a blessing. So many clinics are vacant and we just have to move in and sign a contract.
And together with the leasing trick and the new business model, now we are cooking with gas and everywhere is like 3-4 weeks que. I need more staff, more rooms and more clinics ASAP!

Also went to the worlds biggest beauty fare in Italy in march. Got alot of good connections and now I can connect doctors and nurses to this business with lower prices since I can get goods directly from the manufactorers.

Everything now is about lowering the costs of everything to try to get profit. And I think we are a good way there to lower our expenses, which will lower our prices to our customers, which will lennd more volume and in turn, more profit.

I have also gotten a business question from a machine company customer to become a franchise taker of the clinic company. When I can franchise this business, it will explode.

2024 is when the clinic business takes off. Wish me luck.

 

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[Kokaka]

Random update.

Clinic company.
We are going for a 5 week vacation tomorrow. However, we now have 2 staff that are well versed in all the routines of the clinic. We have also made routines that they can follow when we are away. This will be a fantastic training excercice for the staff and for us since we will know the scalability and if the clinic can run itself with what we have.
Also traveld to another city thats about 1.5hours away to inspect the city(helps alot to be able to drive now) who is just there for the takning. Very rich city where the demand is very high but supply is low.

Also a former customer of mine for the machine company called and asked if he can open with a franchise agreement under the clinic companys name. I have 2 ways of adressing this.
Option 1: Get a franchise agreement.
Pro: Easy
Con: Low controll of a beginning product, cost 25k to get a franchise consultant to get agreement ready.

Option 2: Open with a 51/49 split
Pro: Controll, more profit
Con: Work with a partner, more work.

First, I want to travel to his city and look at where he has his business now. If the location is bad, will not do anything.
If its good, we can proceed in negotiations.

Machine company.
Made a few more sales again.
I have also started to work with a fantactic med-tech consultant who is expensive as hell but she gets the job done.
I understand why one of Dan Penas rules is to work with, especially Lawyers and Accountants you cant afford.
She will help me with alot of things that have stressed me in the path.
Best 20k spent ever!

Yearly summary
Been an entrepreneur for just a year now. Been a heck of a ride. Learnt alot, stressed alot but also know where I belong and what Im meant to do.
I started with 20usd and 2 empty hands, no education and no connections but made the following.

Clinic company1. Fully invested
165k turnover, 55k profit
2 Full time staff + Partner, will hire 1 more

Machine company
600k turnover, 300k profit
3 medtech engineers, 1 secritary

Stock
60k

Yearly profit after reinvestments
160k

Plans for year 2

Open 2 new clinics. Should cost about 130k for both. Will get a business loan with 10-20% personal bail. That means I am only liable for 13-26k but have raised 130k. I will never use my own money to invest if I can avoid it. Good stuff.
Should net me a profit of about 150k during the first 12 month.

Hire account manager for machine company.
Open an office/showroom/training facility for the machine company.
Maybe hire an CEO.
Maybe sell off 49% and get a partner who can help with structure and scalability.

Edit: Forgot that my wife is pregnant and she is from Brazil. She want to give birth over there and stay there for maybe 6 month. Thats fantastic for me because my plan is to open the clinic company and the machine company over there aswell.
Problem in the past is that the Brasilian customes are very difficult to work with. However the solution to this is my med tech consultant since she has worked with Brazil and exporting med-tech over there. Also because my wife is brazilian, I can get the companies 51% in her name which is mandatory and I own 49%. Then I have 6 month to open to businesses over there aswell.

Looking forward to year 2.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine Company:
Still in Brasil. Going home to EU next week.
Have had 2 meetings with 2 consultants.
1 to getting the concept to Brasil and gets accepted by the Brasilian customs ANVISA.
They are famous for being notorious hard and is protecting the Brazilian local economy like crazy.
However I am on the verge of cracking it.
Will cost about 5-10k to legalise everything and take 6 month (if Im lucky). So alot of beaurocraty but thanks to them, the ENTRY to Brazil is super high, and as the 2nd biggest economy for beauty, I would become a multi millionare fast if I can get a foothold here.

Also got the CPF, which is like a number you need here to open bank accounts and businesses. Foregneirs can only own 49% of my own business here so I have to split it somehow between my brasilian partner, european partner, myself and the future CEO of Brasil.

I also have a big deal pending where 3 doctors wants us to build their clinic for them. If we can come to an agreement. We dont need to think about money short term anymore.

Also has hired an account manager for the machine company. She is made for being a beauty machine account manager so this was jackpot. Hopefully sales will increase alot where we have one to soley focus on sales, and not like a part time job split between 2 business owners.

Clinic company.
Did training with some new staff in some treatments. Covid has made everything super easy to do remote. Like Im on the other side of the world, training people. No problems!

July has also been the first time ever of the history of the Clinic Company where it has not been fully booked. Only 50% booked the whole month.
Did some research in my city and there are noone there. Everyone is traveling. So all service based businesses has had a major drop. We are happy that we have been 50% booked.
However the last 24 hours we have had 20+ new bookings, so it is filling up nicely again. Need to use this data for next year.

Other:
I have noticed that it has been more difficult than I thought to run 2 businesses on the other side of the world, with a 5 hour time difference and a newborn son. It would not be a problem with eaither 5 hour time difference or diaper changes in the middle of the night. However both is a little much. Lucely everyone back home is on vacation so I cant work any anyhow.
This however is fantastic to learn how to break TIME. I am building and starting to thing more about systems to make it possible to only work 1 hour max every day to maintain the businesses, the rest of the time can be used too develop and expand. A little difficult from time to time and work is not optimal. However it put my head in a nice trajectory to develop future strategies when I have experiences to draw inspirations from.

Also the business has now grown from 2 people to 10 in 12 month and 20 days

Thanks for the offer, the mistakes I made were obvious in hindsight and I was high on my success being straight out of high school. I relied on others way too much, creating a situation where I really didn't learn anything really, just rode the wave of luck by organizing people in a mediocre manner. Made some money but it collapsed and things were out of my control, I was not proactive in preventing this at all. The tide went out and I was swimming naked. This time I'm doing things different and really understanding my processes from day 1.

This is just what where about to happend to me. Success out of the gate, didnt know what to do, had a time where nothing happend while everything was out of controll. Took about 6 month and an experienced partner to fix all this.

However you have been down this road, and the things you learnt to do but more importanly, what not to, no one can take away from you.
I also belive there are no such sings as luck. You identified a need and capilised on it. You can do it again, just better next time.

Parabéns pelo nascimento de seu filho !

Your first post in this thread was powerful, and not only you have maintained the strength but in a short time you have been able to increase the power

like AC/DC... and now you are dancing more than a rock and roll

Muito obrigado
I found the beginning was the easy part. Mainting it to give you time, energy and brainpower to expand untill you can pay people to make problem go away was the hard part. Took a while but I think I finally arrived

I was wondering how you saw this need in terms of the beauty clinic? You were attending university, have a military background, I am curious how this idea came about?

Also, once you saw this opportunity, how did you go about identifying the steps to take to put the beauty clinic into action?

Its a funny story. Like my backgrouund is blowing up bombs in the military and being a DJ in Ibiza. Not exactly the archetype for the beauty business (thats why it works).
Anyway.
When I was in the military, I realised that I could not do this for the rest of my life. I was a grund with no plan of applying to officer school. I knew this was just a transportation time for me until I found something else, but having fun doing it like diving, skiing in glaciers etc.
Anyway, at the end of my career, I was kinda fed up with the more extreme things and applied for centry duty at a amall army base in the middle of nowhere. This was fantastic. The group just waited for 2-3 cars of the day to pass so we could check the ID. The rest ot the time, we just waited.
This was fantastic because now I had pretty much unlimited time and a salary that could pay my bills.
I started to check of things to do, then I found the University. I thought: "Well everyone who wants to be somewhere needs to study and get a degree". I checked out Social science, Sports science, Psychology, Law and Medicine.
During this research, when I checked out various specialities in medicine, I searched for Dermathology and Plastic surgety on youtube. I was instantly hooked. This was like the coolest thing ever. I could spend hours upon hours in the army base looking at surgeries. It was decided. I was supposed to become a doctor in the beauty industry.
I think I had alot of attraction to the field because all my life I have been creative. Drawing, painting, sculpting etc. So I thought this was just changing canvas to people.
Problem was, I was a high school drop out. My grades was in the gutter, didnt know math and something had to be done about this. Well, no time to be depressed I thought. I researched what needed to be done.
About 18 month extra biology, physics, chemistry and math studies, and being in the top 2% percent of the international test to get into university.
Well now I was obcessed because I didnt want to be in the military anymore.
I studied like a madman. First I studied how to study and made a plan from what I learned. Then it was 12-16 hours every day, 6 days a week.
Took me 10 weeks to clear all the science and math studies, another 8 month to be in the top 2% of the uni test.
Got accepted to one of the best medschools in the country.
During this time I met my partner, and she was a Brasilian beautician. Funny thing is. Brazil is like 10 years more advanced than the EU when it comes to beauty treatments. And I thought. "Well you can be the richest one of us two if you implement what you know in the EU. Supply vs Demand, and it was basicly 0 supply".
Then I thought I wanted to open a clinic, and we could work together.
Like the first day at med-school when people ask each other what they want to do, everyone said they wanted to be a cardiologist, a pediatrian etc. I told everyone straight up I wanted to own an advanced beauty clinic somewhere where it existed palm trees. I remember everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of extra terrestial.
Studied a bit, everything went to shit. Turned out the uni have about 60-70% fail rate of each tests and you only have one test period per semester of 6 month. So I failed and failed again, got burnt out and got on welfare. Suceeded, studied some more, failed again and the rest is history. This story basicly ends where the first post begin.

So yeah. I have been interested in this field for a long time, and has had it as my goal for over 5 years.
Then I pretty much broke the whole beauty industry when it comes to everything. From marketing, services, staff, international trade and relations. So Im Pioneering something that does not exist anywhere in the world. Explosive start and year one. Year two has basicly been building structure and preparing for year three.

 

[Kokaka]

Currently in Sao Paulo in Brazil because my flight back to Europe got cancelled. Very cool city and glad I got to experience it because I passed most of my time in the center/north of Brazil.

I have noticed that this country just have so much potential for the business models I have.
In the EU, there are so many rules and regulations when building and structuring clinics, here there are way less and also alot cheaper.
I have gotten the Idea to build something here that dont exist yet. Because here, you can rent houses and make them very nice, I can offer more services and products, and because construction is cheap here, I can go wild with design and hire more staff.
Also there are alot more who uses machines here so hopefully I can crack the ANVISA customs who is difficult as hell and start to import here.

If I manage to sell a part of the machine company to the investor, my Idea is that I become the CEO of Brazil and he in EU. Then we can scale twice as fast. Helps I speak fluent portuguese.

For this year, I would really like to open 1-2 more clinics in EU and 1 clinic in Brazil, also expand the machine company to Brazil.
If I manage this, I should atleast double the turnover. The profit is quite nice however I just reinvest it because I dont have that many liabilities.

I believe I will get 450k for 49% of the machine company from the investor. 225k paid upfront and the rest during 3-4 years.
If I manage this, I will use is as following:
50k To open the Brazil Clinic
20k To open clinic nr 2 in Europe (will get a new bank loan with 10% personal liability to cover the rest)
70k as down payment for Real Estate in Ibiza in Spain. Prices are low now and I believe Post covid prices on the island will skyrocket.
85k for myself, maybe play around with stocks a little or open EU clinic nr 3?

Also found a small business here in Sao Paulo that makes fantastic consumables for one of the machines we have in the clinic. However because this business is small and local, I just bought a bunch of products and an extra suitcase to bring back to EU. Later will solve a way to import directly.

 

[Kokaka]

Oh and if anyone is interested in how I prepare for business related meetings.
Tomorrow I will meet a project manager who will plan the project of expanding my current clinic to the space next door. It will be the first time I meet him. I am a strong believer of first impressions and later holding that impression so this is what I do every time I meet a manager, consultant, investor, broker, bank manager etc.

Separate suit, tie, pocket square, watch and tie bar.
Iron the shirt to perfection.
Hair cut
Beard groom
Extra skin groom
Wash the car (will meet the manager outside the local and there are parkings outside. I dont want to show up in a dirty car if he sees me)
Minimum 2 hours of shoe shine. (Therapy for me. Listening to podcasts, audiobooks during)
Good tutorial:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXGxPbBGbC4


By doing this and keeping it consistent, I have created a personal brand and an image. And when you arrive 10 out of 10 from a styling perspective people treat you like royalty and its just so easy to close deals, get good deals, get extra service etc. People will think you are super successfull and they want to be a part of that success and become your ally.
Suits are especially powerfull where I live because normal people do not wearing suits anymore, only politicians, lawyers, CEO's and other sucessfull people. That means people thing you are sucessfull too.
I wrote above about the power of a suit. Now I believe that even more and how it create an image and a personal brand which you market every time you meet another person. Because they will invest both in your business and in you.

 

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[Kokaka]

A new update on my endevour.

Machine company:
Made a few more sales. Have a turnover on about 120k on the company so far this year.
Have a few more sales pending aswell.
The service and maintinence system I build and invested in (60k) last year is coming in handy. A few clients has managed to destroy their own machine from lack of common sense, (like plugging in high electricity contacts half way in which leads to short circuit). But because of high profit margain I am offering a fantastic service deal where they can borrow a machine while my engineer fix theirs. I have to find a way to charge for this but at the moment they just pay shipping.

Clinic company:
Alot of things is finally starting to happening here.
We are trying to open 2 more at the same time but also expand the current clinic that we have. Then we will controll all the major cities in our state.
This will lead to an increase from 2 rooms to 12-15 rooms by the end of the year and increase the output 6-700%.
Made a 15k profit last month aswell on the clinic company. First time we have been fully staffed and operating 100% for one whole month. However now one of the girls who work there is on maternety leave and will be away untill next year. We have solved this by hireing 1 more staff and are looking for 1-2 more. Goal is to have 5 staff because now we are optimising our resources and try to be opend evenings and weekends aswell.

If we manage all this, the clinic company will make about 30-50k profit per month. That means the snowball is rolling and we make more money than we can spend by opening new clinics.
Goal is to open 2 more clinics this year and expand current clinic.
Next year open 4 more.

Partnership:
My new partnership is going great. It feels fantastic to have someone who is used to dealing with staff and economics. Because its impossible for me to handle the 20 staff that we are going to need with my current knowledge and experience. Will save about 3 years I belive from this partnership + an exponential growth.
Helps alot with both Controll and Scale from CENTS and its obvious it was the last piece of the pussle for hyper expansion of the business because we have already broken ENTRY and NEED. We figure out TIME as we go.

Lessons learned:
The more you grow, the more Controll you need. I have not have time/skill/knowledge to learn, understand and update my book keeping and it has gone to bite me in the a$$ a few times. Like me being afraid of going bankrupt, putting up ads to sell my car to one talk to my accountant who told be I have been paying doubble taxes for about 10 month and will get a huge return.
But I am finally catching up and have learnt the importance of controll, both for now and how it will matter when you Scale.

Overall:
Total turnover is about 1 milion in 15 month and I started from 0. If I manage all the things I have set forth to do. This year will lay the foundation for something crazy.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine company:
Made about 30k more in profit, among them from another sale to my first ever customer. I gave her super good service in January when her machine broke again. She has had problems since day one with this machine (Not my brand but one of the worlds most famous brands).
I decided to trade her machine in for one of mine (even tough her warrany had run out), loaded it in my car and drove across the country with it because she was fully booked for the whole week and could not wait any more for service and could not loose this amount of money again.
Turned out she was super happy with the trade and her new machine so she bought another one. Just shows how important good service is. The ROI is just insane.

Clinic company:
The current clinic is going too well. We are currently running our 2 treatment rooms with 4 staff which make it possible to be open from 08:00-21:00 six days a week (with some slight abbreviations). First bookable time now is in July so my girls are killing it! I have also increased the marketing to cover the whole state to prepare for clinic nr 2 and 3.

Feels good that I can finally relax and not have every single day be panic work filled with stress and anxiousness. Alot of it has to do with my partner who do everything I dont know how to do yet. I just focus on making more money. He makes sure everything runs like a business. Can finally breath after about a year.

So now we can also finally give back to our staff, and we have planned some events with food and drinks.
Money-wise, we make our best month ever now. We will have a turnover on 32k from our 2 rooms/month and has been stable at this level for the last 3 month.

We are also very close to sign the deal for the second clinic in the neighbouring city in which I have been working for over a year now to open. Got a very good deal on it. The landlord will pay for all the renovation and design in the place and also give us a discound the first year and just 80% of index increase on the rent. It wont be cheap. It will cost about 320k to fix it up but it will be one of the nicest clinics in europe, located at a AAA spot with a good rental contract in a city with high demand and little supply. If I cant get it to work, then clinic nr 1 is just an anomality and it would be best to kill the project and just focus on the machine company. However I think clinic nr2 will be more popular than clinic nr1.
If I get it to work like clinic nr1. We will have a turnover from our 5 rooms of about 80k/month with 40% profit margain. It can expand to 50% in the future when we grow so we can start to buy consumables in bulk and also make our own products for professional and private use through private lable.

We are also waiting for a response from a smaller city which we got a great deal to open clinic nr3 in which will also have 5 rooms.
Also waiting for a response to expand to another local in clinic nr1 city which will increase the rooms from 2 to 5.

Best case cenario is that we get all 3 and if we fill the rooms up like we have been doing for the last year in clinic nr1. We will have an anual turnover of around 2 million/year with high profit margain. However, as we all know, it usually is not that simple but it gives something to strive to. Would be cool if we manage because it will be the first step of building "a real company".

Other:
For me, the best thing that could have ever happend was to get this partner. Everyone always say dont sell a peice of your business. However, with the way things were, I was just over worked and on the verge of burnout, just by trying to maintain what I had. It made it even more complicated because I dont have any training, business degree or education. I just learn by doing and see what works. This meant everytime something came up, like one of the staff had to be home with her sick kid, apply for vacation, book keeping etc. I had to learn the damn thing, which just took up to much time and energy. It came to the point that it became so frustrating that I contemplated to kill the machine company, liquidate it and reinvest and just focus on the clinic company. However, now when all the "CEO - stuff" is coverd by my partner, I can focus on just expanding, building the brand and making more money. All the things I enjoy to do and am good at. It will also save me about 5 years in the process and we can expand at supersonic speed now.

So now, the plan is to prepare for clinic nr2 as much as possible for the next 2 weeks, also start to investigate the neighbouring state to open clinic nr 4, because it takes about 6-12 month from start to finish. After that, I go to Brazil for 6 weeks when my kid gets born. My partner, who is also a super great guy has told me to take a little time away, recharge and be with my family, because only god knows how much I need it. Then come back in the beginning of august and make the final preparations for the grand opening of clinic nr2 1'st of September.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update

Clinic company
Sold some more machines.
Upgraded one machine for a customer who destroyd hers from poor maintinance so warranty expired due to inability to proper maintain the machine. She was left with 2 alternatives. Send the machine to service to get it fixed, get sent a loan machine in the meantime. Would land on 5k. She could also trade in her broken machine for a new one, with full warranty etc. She chose the latter. Made 11k on this trade and she became super happy. Win-win for both.

My partner is on the lookout for an COO for the machine company so we both can focus on the clinic company because hes strenght is staff and economy, not product development, even though he does a good job. That way we optimize ourself. He has a contact that he is talking to which he says would be perfect for this job. However the contact has a good secure job for one of the worlds biggest company. It feels scary for him to jump ship to a small startup company so we will se what will happen. I hope we get a COO so we can focus just on one business, we are too spread out, even as 2 people focusing on 2 businesses and both him and me does a better job on the clinic company. A problem that needs solving.

Got a contract for a 3PL solution in our city with a new logistics company to get the consumable part up and running. I have told my partner I only need a place to store everything and we can start. Partner organise the on-site logistics, I focus on the products.
Also the owner of the logistics company is a "fastlane" person. He bought the company when it went bankrupt 1.5 years ago and now he is expanding too fast so all his storage space is rented out, except for the E-commerce. He does not have all that much experience with E-commecrce logistics but he is a person that solve problems. This is exactly what we need because we have no idea what we do either, however 3 good minds will be able to find a solution. I believe that this is better for us that we learn as we go than to work with a specialised E-commerce 3PL solution which has very specific rules you have to follow.

Also now that I dont have to run 2 businesses by myself, I have increased the marketing strategy to doubble the exposure through social media, now that logistics wise, we can handle more customers.

Clinic company.
It finally happend! Got the contract for Clinic nr 2 and Clinic nr 3. However, due to the war in Ukraine, all delevery times have doubbled. Clinic nr2 will be ready in November, Clinic nr 3 in December.
My partner does staff and have found good candidates in and around the new cities. We have also found the perfect Clinic Manager who we have hired as our 5th employee. What makes her fantactic is that next year or the year after, she wants to move back to her city. Thing is, its exactly where we want to open clinic nr4. So now, we just need some money in the bank and we have a clinic manager in clinic nr4 who can manage and train the new staff. I like to joke that we work as the "Green Berrets". We have 1 person who train a group and copy one persons skill into many. Force Multiplier in the world of beauty, body hair removal and toe nail painting baby!

I am also collecting alot of usefull data from my machine company customers and I copy them alot for my clinic company, (without they knowing ofcourse). From marketing campaigns, etc. Also one customer has given me a great Idea. She held a lecture infront of 19 doctors in her state of some precediours she does with mine machine. She got all doctors and the hospital as the customer. This got me thinking. I can do the same, but ramp it up to 11. I can work and tailor made treatments for endocrinology, sex-changes, urology and gereiatry. Probably more. I am a great salesman and even though I did not become a doctor, I speak their language. When I'm back home, I will contact all hospitals in my state, perfectly located where I have clinic 1,2 and 3 and sell my business to the hospitals, doctors etc. This in turn makes the brand better and future expansion easier. Because if I go to the next state and say "Hello, I work with all hospital in my state and they are super happy with the results, you should to". They will more likely accept. Also when it comes to the marketing, we can do something like "Hospital X, Y and Z is customers at our clinic". Better quality assurance does not exist.

We are also discussing Brazil more serious now. He has never been here so for him its very abstract. However he sees it as a way to diminish the risk and not just focus on the EU market. Then we have to fairly separated economies who will be the engine of the business.

So now, there are not much we can do before clinic 2 and 3 open. The clinic manager runs the clinic and makes sure everything runs smoothly. Maybe I work 30 minutes a week with this business now and it is steadily "printing money".

Other
In Brazil now because my son was born a few days ago. Everything went great. I love this country when even the doctors have high heels in the operating room. Beauty and style everytime, its hilarious.

Because of the extra month of "downtime", we can now focus on making everything a little bit better and not just making more money. Like a friend of mine teases me that I just expand and do stuff but my employees dont have name tags. Its a thing that takes 30 min but I still have not done it. I probably have hundreds of small details that have fallen behind because I focus more on expanding than doing everything perfect. Im a firm believer that "perfection is the enemy of good" but now I have some time to make the businesses better than they where.

On a side note. Now 4 years of chronic stress is over. First from medschool, then opening 2 business, selling a part to now everything is and I can slow down mentally. Stills fills from time to time my brains is accellerating even though it does not have to. I guess I need to learn to relax.

 

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[Kokaka]

Random update.
Machine company:

The customer who wanted to buy the machine in the end of december was being very difficult. After she signed a binding document with the bank who do the leasing, she decided to change her mind just before the machine was to arrive (about working 15 days aftercontract signing). She wanted to promt cancel the deal. Well, it is not that simple when we are 3 parties (her, us and the bank) who have written a binding legal contract.
We got no help from the bank in solving this issue so we had to solve it outself. Luckely, after 3 month of persuation and education, she accepted the machine and we can get our money. The leasing company only pay us after the arrival of the machine so between a customer sign a leasing contract and we deliver the machine, we have to put quite alot of money up. Difficult when we have been low on liquidity.
However, she finally realised that if she was to refuse delivery, we and the bank would sue her and the total cost for her would be higher than the machine and she would have no way of making her investment back. Luckely we solved this but it has been draining.

On a possitive note, a new customer called like a few weeks back and just told me "Hi, I want to buy theese 2 machines for 42k. Send them to me ASAP". Very nice random event with togehter with the above sale, have saved the liquidity and stability of the machine business and also made that we can start to take dividend from the company.

But on the best note, I have now localised stock, service and maintinence to my home town. Now I fullfill the Controll aspect, and also togehter with Economic controll. This business is now complete and can just be a ticking money making machine with little time and energy investment.

Clinic Company.

Clinic nr2 has exceeded expectations. Been open for 1 month now and we have already had a turnover of 13k with a fixed cost of 6k. Only one staff so far but next week another girl will begin and hopefully we can raise the profit even more.
The more units we make, the fixed costs will be exponentially less, like the owner salary, consultant fees, marketing fees etc.

My theory of building a nice looking interior (bringing value) has payd off. In all reviews of the clinics, everyone is writning it looks really nice and wants to come back. In the future, I want to use this interior in my marketing to sho people "look at us how nice we are. Everyone else is just white walls, ceiling, furniture and are boring". Best 3k spent ever!

We have also started a cooperation with a Dermathologist (skin doctor) who will work in both clinics which are just 40 minutes apart but 2 separate cities. She will work on percentages and as such, she will be totally free and only make us money 100% of the time she work.

Now we will wait a little to expand untill after summer to open clinic nr3 and nr4 because we dont have the funds or the energy for it, but timing wise, July and August is bad month and we want to give the business the best possible start.
There are alot of vacancies so it will be easy to expand when the time is right.

Summary:

Very happy with the machine company and all the growing pains are gone.

The clinic expansion really kicked my a$$. I had to take care of my 9 month son Monday-Friday while running 2 businesses and opening a 3rd. This was not easy because I tried to be the best entrepreneur, business partner and father all at the same time but being good at neither and all sufferd. Maybie its more in my head because so far, the businesses looks really good and my son seems to enjoy going places with me in the car and going to meetings. I joke that in 2-3 years time he can run the businesses and I go on vacation.
Got really active with the Muay Thai again but reinjured an old shoulder injury so that was a bummer. But atleast Im back to my old self and go to the gym early while everyone is asleep and the day has not started. Really, really helps in keeping the head in the right place.

Now however, things will start to slow down. We have all the staff we need, everyone is trained except for the doctor. I will train her next week. (Funny that a failing med-student is training specialist doctors in treatments).

First will take my family in in 2 weeks time for a vacation abroad and then I can relax untill end of august because now its just a self playing piano and wait for it to grow.
1 of 2 things will happen after this. If the business is slow, I will return to the uni and do 1 more semester of my studies. This businesses has really opend my eyes for medicine (I would never have guessed this 2 years ago) and I would very much like to become a doctor. If the business is booming, I will open 2 more clinics between august-december.
I also got an offer to expand to India. A doctor (who is also a businessman) at the university hospital has seen this oppurtunity and wants to invest. The market seems really nice and open so this can be a good oppurtunity and he has money to invest.
This is intresting, especially now that I have solved the custom issue so now I can open everywhere in the world. Be it India or Brazil.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update.
A few weeks ago I got an appifany.
Due to 2 years now of good deal with my leasing company, they have started to offer very good deals to my customers because they see this as a safe investment. They give better deals now than what the bank offer.
So. My plan is to lease to myself at a higher price than what I first thougt. I can lease between my companies with, I will try to get around 6% intrest over 60 month, no downpayment and 0% personal liability with each clinic I open.
I will make between 30-40k profit for each unit because I will make some mega orders but still at a discount.

Now, the clinics will make less money per year doing thus and it will cost like 1,5k/year in intrest.
However, I wont take out any profits out of the clinics. They will just grow and pay off the bank.
I get to register quite alot of extra profit in my machine company. This I can in turn take out as dividend to my holding company and pay 50% less tax/year and make a net profit AND get a higher cash flow which I can in turn reinvest faster.
This in turn would over all make a higher yeald if my investments beat the interest. And all this with 0% personal liability. I print my own money.

I think this is what real estate people use. Get the bank to finance the building. Rent out the place, build cashflow to pay back the bank and sell after many years when the value has increased.
This is the same, but the cashflow will be way, way higher.
Did I just break the system?
Need to talk to my accountant and later try this.

 

[BizyDad]

I'm interested to know what other fastlaners think of this quote. Seems like a fixed mind type of perspective. "Either you got it or you don't".

I would think it's more like, "whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right..."

Most people can become entrepreneurs. But it takes the willpower to change yourself. To strive for more.

Many people lack the requisite desire. We see plenty of people come on this form talking about how bad they want it, but they're not willing to do what it takes.

Many of us will cheer them on. But at the end of the day, actions reveal character.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update.
So everything was going exceptionally well. Hired a full time seller for the machine company, and had total of 4 staff in the clinic company. So from 0 to 5 staff in just over 1 year.
Then a perfect storm happend.
The market crashed due to the war in Ukraine, energy prices in europe and inflation. People now has less money than before so people spend less. Has not have any more sale since july with the machine company and booking is down almost 40%.
Then I got an unknown tax bomb of 75k divided between the 2 companies. Just before this, we thought things was well so we orderd a 25k stock to be used between the companies. So yeah, lesson learned. Controll first because this was not that fun.

However, there are some good news in all this. Luckely, we did not have to open clinic 2 and clinic 3. If we did, it would be disasterous.
As is now, we have an overpaid stock of like 6-700k market value of already payed equipnet to sell or use in future clinics. However the machine company has little funds left but the hughe stock.
This could and should have been avoided with better retroactive controll. Now we have great controll but its just a mess that has had to be resolved from the year prior that led to all theese taxes. Sucks, but now we know and I have learned a ton. The more you make, the costlier your mistakes will be.

Also positive is that the clinic company is doing its best quarter by far. Reason is that we have increased our prices because we have been too cheap. About 30-40% cheaper than some clinics in some neighbouring states. I also noticed a problem with our pricing model. We had discount upon discount so some services was way to cheap. The price increase had led to a drop in customer but more turnover and less cost (in staff, taxes, electricity, products etc.).

So now we are in a bit problematic spot. A ton of stock but no one to buy them and nowhere to put them to use and little funds. We probably have to do some trimming to cut costs and wait out the winter and dig in.

If we look long term however, it would not surprise me if this is the best thing that could have happend to the clinic company (the one I an certain will be the big value maker). Why? Because we are making our best quarter in the midsts of a crisis. We have also learned more about pricing strategies but most how big a clinic has to be. Before when we had week long ques and we where open from 08:00 to 21:00 6 days a week, we thought we would need 5 rooms and like 8 staff because the data indicated this. Now we know it is better to streamline the operation and just have 3 rooms with 3-4 staff. This will save a ton of unneccecary spending.
It is also alot of clinic companies that is going bankrupt like crazy and when the winter is over and everyone is happy, we can just grab AAA places for free and put our stock to use, because as is, we can open 2-3 more clinics for free because they have been mostly paid for, and then generate 10-20k profit month/clinic.

I am also thinking about going back to the university and do 1 more semester of Med-School.
Why? Because if nothing will happen and we cant grow for 6 month because wee need to build more cash flow, I need to do something to support myself because I dont want to take out any salary. Better to reinvest the money into assets of the business.
In my country you recieve money to study so its a better alternative than to work most of the time anyway.
I also became quite stressed when I realised how vulrneable you are without anything to fall back on during a crisis, or when business is bad.
Then the more I have worked as an entrepreneur, the more I have seen how usefull the medschool has been to this area of expertice. I have been thinking of changing to business and finance because its easier and shorter, but I learn that by doing what I do anyway, and I have fallen in love with the beauty industry and combining medicine with business.

So yeah. Now just wait for better times, build cashflow. Wait for other clinics to fail and take over.
There is also something called lipstick index that indicate this area is very recession proof. Also historicly, if we look at the financial crisis of 08, beauty was super robust so the outlook looks good, regardless of mistakes, war and other things.

 

[Kokaka]

Just saw this thread has been upgraded to Gold.
Thanks everyone who has been along for the ride and all thw new members aswell

 

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[Kokaka]

Update of the week:

Machine company:
Got a new order for the machine company out of the blue. 20k more in profit so I broke 200k usd profit this year.
About 350k in turnover.

Have a ton of sales pending now. Seems I am entering high season. Have about 100k profit in people who say they will buy but havent bought and more and more call every day. I need to hire staff!

Have put up the machine company up for sale for 30-50% of the company. Should net me about 350-600k in profit.
I need a partner high in liquidity to turn this business international so I can spend and earn millions every month, but more help me with the business side because I dont have more time between machines and building a beauty empire with clinics.
The profit will go to turning the clinics international

Clinic Company:
The employee that was supposed to start last week didn't how up. Need to hire 2 more staff members for the clinic so I can remove my partner from working manual labour so she can focus on clinic number 2.

Clinic nr 2 is coming together. Planned the bathroom with the project manager. Still alot to do with ventilation, water, electricity etc.

Mental & Physical:
Last week I was able to do Muay Thai 3 times. This week I have done nothing because I tried a new anti wrinkle treatment and I cannot train for 7 days. Motivation is back!

Hiring the office space has been great. Productivity is high!

Working from about 09:00 to 20:00 every day now. Lots of energy.

Have gotten fat from the downtime. I need to pick up the training next week. Goal is 5 days.

Got accepted to study business economics for this semester at the uni. I would love to learn book keeping and administration but I dont know if I have time.

 

[Kokaka]

Very exciting/inspirational, I'll be following your journey while starting my own. Underrated thread on the forum. Keep it up

Thanks alot. Also this got me the motivation to start posting again.

Alot of things has happend since last update.

Clinic company:
Finally found a new employee who is very good. We are currently looking to expand a second unit to a neighbouring city about 50 minutes away and this employee lives there and commute to us.
The idea is that we will train her in our treatments and protocol but also to be the clinic manager when we open.
Downside with this is that we will lose her in this city and as such, some of her clients that she will build up. However I believe the advantage is huge because we have someone who can run clinic number 2 and train the staff she/we hire. This is good force multiplier.

On wednesday we will get a fantastic interiour designer who design VIP lounges in airports, luxury hotels etc to to our reception. This will be nice because we can then use the new A+ interiour in marketing. It looks decent as is because me and my college tryed our hardest. However because when we opend in february we had pretty much nothing to invest so everything is cheap IKEA stuff so will be nice to get some high quality furtiture, lamps, carpets, wallpapers etc. Should land on about 10-12k

We have changed our name which has hurt abit. Howwver it was neccecary because we are building a franchise chain with atleast 1000 clinics worldwide so we have now copywrited a good name and we will get the .com adress aswell as its listed for 7k.

The 2nd clinic shop space that I have been working on since may went to shit. They changed project manager to someone incompetent so it took her 5 month just to check the plumbing in the space. The plumbing is so that we cant open.
On the plus side, I have seen alot of other shops that has been vacated so will travel to the city this week and take a look.

Machine company
Have made about 150k more profit since last time.
Feels good. I have invested alot in clinic nr1 and it is almost complete.
I have bought a stock for about 50k with extra machines which my customer can borrow free of charge if their machine break during the warranty. I can always put them in one of my clinics in the future if I see I dont need this stock and solution.
Have about 120k on my bank account with expenses of just 1k/month
Have some orders I that are getting quite warm with a profit of about 100k on the way in.

Finally connected my phone number to a phone Exchange to my mechanics. I HATE when customers call me and their machine has broken, they have broken their own machine or they need service. It stresses me the hell out and destroy the rest of the day for me.
Hopefully this should fix the problem.

I really need to make a webshop and sell clinic and webshop consumabels. First its a great source of income and second, it will cut my costs alot when I open new clinics.
However, I dont know how to to eCommerce and the logistics its recuiring. However, Its something I can figure out.

Physical/mental

Been feeling like shit again lately. I have been identifyig the following factors:

• Stress
• Shit routine
• No excercise
• Bad diet
• Overwork

Stress:
Hate when customers call and they need their machine fixed. Fixed this by connecting my phone to a phone exchange that leads service errands directly to my service center.
I lease the service center and their services because they are not my employees. This cost me a little extra every month but I can afford it and it gives me peace of mind.
I also have my machine stock in the service center so they can tinker all they want with the new machines and learn and understand them to give service over the phone etc.

Shit routine:
I have had no routine and this has been slowly killing me. I think because I have a military background and Im used to things being very strict and orderly.
I have started to exercise again 3 times a week the first thing in the morning. I identifyed that I tried to do to much too soon and it just led to burnout. Will stick to 3 times/week and slowly increase volume.
I also start to go to bed the same time and wake up the same time. Should help alot.

No excercise:
I am currently taking an intensive course for my drivers licence so I can get the car I bought. However, it takes time and when I cant work during the day because I drive and study, I have to work later and deprioritice excercise. I solved this by workning out first thing in the morning. Then the world can end but I still got my reps in that day in the gym.
I will wait a little with the fighting just to get my body back in order and not go to hard too soon.

Bad diet:
Been an intensive time so I only eat out. My bill for lunch and dinner lands on about 1k/month from frequent resturant visits or take away. Will go and buy some food so I atleast can cook 3-4 times/week at home.
Drivers licence and my car will help in the future so I can buy bulk. Now I walk to the store and can just bring 2 bags home.

Overwork:
Before I started this venture I was a struggling med-student trying to catch up while also working at the ICU with the Covid patients so I could afford to pay my bills. Then I started 2 businesses almost at the same time and both has been huge sucesses. It is just so much responsibilities, decisions and brainpower that is being used every day and to be fair. I do feel quite exhausted.
I have however booked a trip to south america for 6 weeks over christmas and new years where I can finally relax a little and get some RnR. This is my 3'rd vacation in my life so sould be good.

Engineers are online to help any customers.
If someone wants to buy something they have to send a mail
Clinic has 3 staff working now and it runs automaticly so I can leave it alone

I have also come to the realisation that I dont understand money or cash flow and what varous number means.
Last week I have about 60k in the machine company accound and I became stressed out that a trip to south america was 2k and almost didnt go because I thought it was too expensive. The week after the money in the bank doubbled.
Maybe it is something you learn how much you can spend every month and it comes with experience?

So yeah, this pretty much sums up the weeks from my last post.
Maybe it something I have forgotten but hopefully I will post more frequently because its quite fun to read what the heck I have been doing up untill now

 

[Kokaka]

Random update.

Machine company
Made a giant order to 2 doctors however, 2 days after they signed the contract they wanted to withdraw the order really bad. I let them because I want to keep a good reputation and create value because value is more important than money. Too bad because that profit would have been quite nice.

Just some random stuff off sending things back and forth.
Seems Im over my peak because now its a little calm. Good because I need time to work with other things and its good to get a breather.

Clinic Company.
The staff I hired has been better than expected. After 2 weeks she is fully booked so now we have 3 staff thats fully booked. I need a bigger place.

Im looking to move in next door who is twice as big. And because its just an empty hull, I can design it just as I want with my interior designer Im using and make a AAA+ clinic from the ground up.
Then I can charge 10-20usd more per treatment which will lend a net profit of 20k-30k extra per year and the investment will pay itself.

I also noticed 2 rooms is way to small when it comes to staff. As is now, I have a rolling scedule which works. Problem is I work with women thats 25-40 year old so they either have or will have children. This means they are home alot and it messes with the scedule, bookings and the saticfaction of the customers. If 1 is away from work, the other is in the clinic alone. I dont want that. Thats why I need 3 rooms so if one is empty, the other 2 can take some of the treatments that day.

I also went to the neighbouring city today to look at 3 new locations. 1 really catched my eye because it has 2 levels with an open second floor, big windows and preinstalled water in the 3 treatment rooms I want to build.
Good location and cheap rent.
Downside is that I have to pay 100% of the cost
Upside is its very little I have to do because it has good water and ventilation.

I have calculated with very shure numbers every clinic will cost me about 60k to build and will give me a profit of 60k/year (with 2 rooms, my new clinics will have minimum 3). So its a good place to put the profit I make from the machine company and in little time, the clinics will eclipse the machine companies profit.

Physical/mental.
Got my excercise on track
I have eaten more at home

Im also going to be a father in 8 month time so now I have a deadline to finish the 2 clinics. This is just what I needed to kick my a$$ into gear again and now I feel really good again. I have realised Im either in first or fifth gear. Theres no inbetween for me.

 

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[BizyDad]

What a great example you are setting for forum members.

@MJ DeMarco @Andy Black @ZCP what do you say, time to mark this thread at least notable?

I'm on a mission to get others to notice this thread. I may have totally abused the new gold button, but if this thread isn't worth it, I don't know what is.

Maybe with a higher power score it'll get marked and more people will come on here and learn from what you are doing. You've had highs, lows, overcome problems and adversity. This thread may not be a step by step action plan, but it sure read like an inspiration. I'm glad to have been watching it from the beginning. This thread is better than Netflix.

Keep Going @Kokaka !

 

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[Kokaka]

Update:
Machine Company
Finished all my leads. Everything is smooth. No new sales pending but cant complain. Very, very good q4 quarter last year.
Will do some travel now during spring to expand the business to also include a web-shop with consumables. Have some fairs to visit to get into contact with providers.

Clinic Company
What a month!

Clinic 1 is stable as ever.

Clinic 2 has made a total turnaround.
From thoughts of closing to the best month in the history of the company!

It seemed it was a pricing issue. Now we have lowerd the prices and work on volume. The city where clinic nr2 is located is a "blue collar working class city" wheras clinic nr1 is in a white collar academic city.
We treated clinic nr2 as clinic nr1. Did not work. We ailienated the customer base.

I noticed this when I was looking at the marketing graphs. Clinic nr2's city has more interests in theese treatment but less tha 50% bookings. So with some price adjustments, some are even down 48%, we have totaly turned it around. Everyone is fully booked now. And because the fixed prices are so low in clinic nr2. We start to make some profit there now.

This means, the business model we had before was sub optimal. Instead of trying to build luxury clinics with high prices we now do volume, volume, volume.
Because of the low costs, we are able to price out the competition and still make a nice profit.

Currently have 2 rooms active full time fully active. I have 1 more treatment rooms and the option to build 2 more.

Clinic nr 2 bookings is now 50% higher than in clinic nr1 so if we keep this up. We probabky have to expand the clinic by summer/autumn, since we sell packages, and 1 new customer is atleast 6-8 returning visits. So it will be a big bottleneck soon, so we are planning for it.

Also in clinic nr1, we are just about to decide to go from a 2 room clinic to a 4 room clinic. It is higher rent aswell as 20k security for 24 month we have to put down. Alot of money now but numbers are good.
If we can keep clinic nr2 like this, (make nice profit and not bleed money) this seems like the correct way to go.
Then we do volume in clinic nr1 aswell and have Volume as our business model. So far so good and it starts to feel interesting.
Beat the competition with quality, product varience, marketing, price and volume.

 

[Kokaka]

Update of the week:
Hired a new employee
Fixed the signs
Got a new logo and branding
Hired an office space for myself.
Got my marketing campaign for the machine company
2-3 potentials sales for the machibe company

Coffers is a little low in the clinic but we are re investing investing like crazy. Still fully booked

 

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[Kokaka]

Brazil have one of the biggest beauty market in the world. If you manage to put foothold in here you can make a lot. But I imagine this is a very competitive market. There’s beauty clinics everywhere in my city.

Good luck!

Thanks.
Im currently in Brazil now and scouting the market. Lovely country with even better food and fantastic people.
Its correct that the market is big and competition is fierce. However, with my concept, I believe I can transform the entire beauty industry here if I do it correctly. As is, I can open the most advanced clinics in the country, while at the same time promote my brand of machines.
Now, I just have to learn how to export from the EU (my medtech consultant will help with this), but also the laws and regulation of constructing the clinics, with electricity, ventilation, plumbing, but also on hiring staff etc. Its good I have learnt almost fluent portuguese which can make all this possible

 

[Kokaka]

Update of the week.

Clinic company:
The clinic is now closed for 15 days because of vacation, children and a beauty course.
Made the storefront very nice and will drop of the key to the business that does the windows

Machine Company
Sent 7 machines for service and repair
One of my customers asked for me to import a special machine to her. So I will travel to 2 countries next week to see what kind of dels I can make.

Currently, I have 3 big deals pending for between 35k-55k profit each. If I can close one deal, I will use the profit to open a clinic in another country and start by building my brand internationally.

One of my old customers has now becoma a retailer for me and the deal is that she will get 20% provision. She is working like crazy and I believe she will be able to sell 1-4 machines shortly. Should ned about 40k profit for me and a nice provision for her.

Physical & Mental

Starting to feel good.

Managed to work out 4 times this week.

 

[Kokaka]

Short update:

Clinic company:
Had a designer visit so we can redo the reception to A+ standard. The clinic is too small as is but atleast it will look nice while we look for a bigger space. Will move in about 6-12 month and Im looking to build value and not money here so I think its a good investment. Will use the reception for markaging etc.

The huring of my 3rd staff member has gone just as planned. This made me remove my partner 3 days a week for 4 hours so she can help improving the product, treatment, teach the staff etc.
Goal is to have her removed from doing treatments alltogether by summer next year so she can learn new skills, new machines and teach our staff

Next week will look at 4 new locations at a neighbouring city to open clinic nr 2.

Machine company.
Managed to fix 2/3 broken machines.
1 is sent to service.

Made 3 new deals and a profit of 65k.
Tomorrow I will have training with 2 customers and a demonstration for a doctor who wants to buy a big order whick will generate a profit of another 60k

I applied to copyright a name of one of my machines but it was too similar to another, existing machine. Will see next week how I can solve this.

Marked a business meeting with a friend of mine next week and we will discuss about opening a websop that sell consumables, small machines, furniture and simple equipment for clinics. This means two things. I build another source of income from eCommerce and I can also get a huge discounts for consumables for my clinics. Should save about 500usd/month per clinic and lower initial investment for every new clinic by about 10-20k but also income in the form of sales.
Im just copy a strategy Dan Peña tokd in one of his youtube videos. "Find a good salesman and build a business aroubd him".

Physical/Mental
Hit the Gym 2 times so far

Cooked my own food 2 times this week

Still feel exhausted even though I have worked less this week.

Passed my theory test for the drivers licence. I have about 4 classes left and I can do my final test and I believe that I can really relax after. Also will help alot beign able to drive everywhere since Im getting tired of goibg by buss and train everywhere and too cold to bike

 

[Kokaka]

Great thread!

This really shows that wealth is a process not an event

Thanks. Yeah its a grind to say the least.
I think people get caught up in trying to get easy money. You read all the time about overnight millionares but in reality, its like winning the lottery or getting rich of stocks/bitcoin. Some few who get all the attention suceed fast. But the bulk of people need to grind year after year before they reach wealth.

I'm on a mission to get others to notice this thread. I may have totally abused the new gold button, but if this thread isn't worth it, I don't know what is.

Maybe with a higher power score it'll get marked and more people will come on here and learn from what you are doing. You've had highs, lows, overcome problems and adversity. This thread may not be a step by step action plan, but it sure read like an inspiration. I'm glad to have been watching it from the beginning. This thread is better than Netflix.

Keep Going @Kokaka !

Thanks. Yeah its been a ride to say the least. For me, this is just normal but looking as an outsider into the process, It can seem abit crazy.

Yes this thread is not a step by step. However I like to share the progress along with some tips and ideas along the way. Its also fun to look back into because its easy forget where everything came from and the path it has taken.
I am open for questions though and will try my best to share what I have learnt with the members of this forum.

Goodness me. I've never even seen this thread and never got notified when tagged.

Upgraded to Noteable at least. Will have to read through in detail.

Thanks. Hope you enjoy the read

 

[Kokaka]

Congrats!
Can you tell us more details about how you bought the machines and how you sold them?
Do no tell the exact product but how you found the supplier(which country) and then how you bought them( you said you have limited capital) and how you sold them to clients(ads, cold phones,website)?
P.S. Sorry for my english,this is not my native language

Thanks.
Its actually easy.
Just find someone who sells expensive stuff at a good price. Be the middle man and sell it for more and just take some of the profit for yourself. Let the seller ship directly to the customer and as such, you dont have to have any stock etc.
Just pay for ads at Greek selling forums.
Dont be afraid to look at other countries.
Example
High end Gyros Ovens for big kitchens
They should have it in neighbouring countries like Macedon and Bulgaria and I believe its cheaper than in Greece.
Get a contact to someone who sell ovens over there for example 20k. Sell them for 25-30k in Greece.
Let the customer in Greece pay everything in advance, use some of that cash to buy the machine in Bulgaria.
Also get into contact with banks that lease. Then the bank will cover the purchase.
Its as easy as that.
Later on when you have cash. Make your own ovens, lower the initial cost and make a fortune.

Thats exactly how I did but with high end beauty machines which I sell to Doctors etc.

 

[Kokaka]

So its been a while and I thought its time for an update.

Clinic company:
Hired one more staff. Now has 3 regular + my partner. Everyone is still fully booked and we still have a 2 week waiting list.
All of the staff has been sick in Covid, had to close the clinic for a few days. And because everyone has children, if the staff is not sick, their children is sick and they have to be home to take care of them. This is a good lesson since in the future when we expand, we need a better mix of employees. If they are expierneced, they have children and will thus be away more from work. If they dont have children, they will generally be inexperienced but can work more. In the future, will take this into consideration when hiring staff.

Also increased most of our prices by 10%

The clinic we have now is way too small. We will solve this with one of 2 solutions. Create 2 small treatment-rooms out of 1 big treatment room. Got an offer from a private contractor to build 6 meter wall and he wanted 30k for it. Twice the price of what it will cost so I obviously declined. Will have another contractor come by today.

Option 2 is to move to a space 20 meters beside the current clinic. Then we will have a space twice as big. and I can have 8 employees. This is the option I want the most. Problem is it will cost alot. Will meet with the project manager tomorrow to go over everything. If it is inside the budget, I will use the current clinic as a showroom for my machine company. Its a nice place and we have invested alot in the place so I want to keep it.

I have also found the absolutly best local for clinic nr2 in a neighbouring city. Everything is perfect. Its an old sports bar wit alot of brick walls and we can make it just amasing. That place will be a crown jewel in this chain.
Problem is that the landlord want 100k as security. Thats a shitload of money and I can open 2 clinics with that money. Will need to see how we solve that. Still waiting for my first year of book keeping.

The investor that I has spoken with will also invest in the clinic company. I think he sees this business potential just as I do. Machine company will bring in alot of money but the scalability of the clinic company is A+ so he wants to be involved in this project aswell. For me, the more experienced I got, the more I understand I need help in order to scale at the pace I want. Sure, I give away a part of the company but I will be able to scale 3-6 times more rapidly if I get someone who has had hundreds of staff working for him, got good liquidity and understands economy for businesses with 100+ employees.

Machine company:
Sold one more machine but also alot of consumables. Have made about 40k profit this year. Everything will go to paying taxes.

Physical and Mental.

Finally got out of my runt. Been exercising 4-6 times/week since the beginning of the year. Lost 10lbs. Diet is spot on. Feeling good and feeling strong. Cook almost every day so alchohol consumption has been reduced by just a few drinks a month. Sleep is also spot on with me going to bed and waking up the same time every day.

 

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[Kokaka]

What about Brazil? I was curious because in your last post you had a lot of plans in here.

Brazil is still hot. If I manage to get the deal signed. My goal is to open 1 clinic in Brazil this year and let it grow. By doing this I will resolve the issue and create systems of hiring staff, opening clinics, exporting/importing machines, service of machines etc. This will lay the foundation for further expansion im Brazil. Both for expanding clinics and selling machines.
Thats good because when I opend in the EU. I had 0 network. In Brazil, my network is fantastic so that till help alot.

 

[Kokaka]

Random update:

Machine company:
Had to let the account manager go because of no sales since summer.
Might have a nice sale pending though if the customer sign her contract. Been waiting 4 weeks for this. She says she will sign and is super possitive but have alot on her mind now. This money will make the machine company healthy again.
Lets cross our fingers but as is, we have more or less dieted down all costs and wait for better times.

Clinic company:
However, its good news with the clinic company!
It seems my theories has held and now, there are so many clinics just to take over for free. And even though we have no money, we have a big stock thats paid for.


We have now gotten a contract that is too good to be true now which we will sign today!
Fully mounted clinic. Only thing we need is some new paint on the wall.
Got 100% discount on the rent for the first 3 month. Then 50% discount for 3 month and then 25% discount for 3 month.
The landlord will pay the labour fee for painters and electricians. We just pay the material (save us 5-10k).
Also there is no down payment! We just get the contract risk free.
Rent is also brutally cheap and its located at a AAA location.
However due to low liquidity, even though we make a good profit (invested to heavily with too little controll), we had to take a small loan of 25k. However the conditions are great and just 20% personal liability split between 3 people.

Just to compare. The place we was trying to build during the summer (just next door) would cost 360k to fix up which would doubble the rent from what we will pay now.
I calculated that we would save 180k in rent per 5 year period with this new clinic. Easiest 180k saved ever!.

Also because I own all the equipment in the machine company, the monthly costs will be next to nothing. Only salaries, where taxes is subsidised for 24 month due to opening a new business (save 50k in 24 month), rent and marketing which will be split between clinic nr1 and clinic nr2. So we can finally start to make some profit and get the snowball rolling. There are alot of nice premade clinics for the taking and desperate landlords now which can give us real nice contracts out there now.

The current clinic is also on fire, even midst of a crisis and we have more traffic than ever!

 

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[Kokaka]

Random update:
Machine company:
The custumer i wrote above finally signed her contract. Got the sale!
Also my leasing partner had apparently 20k more they had to pay us due to a trade in in march last year but the customer forgot to sign her contract. Thought it would only be like 5k so 15k extra in the coffers is welcome.
Also have alot of potentials sales now, upwards of a profit of 150k if everyone buys. People are scared now however, and 2 of my former customers has gone bankrupt. Not fun for them when they lease machines upwards of 40k and we have enterd into a crisis winter due to geopolitical reasons.

All this however means liquidity is saved. Have about 50k now in liquidity and very little costs because everything is dieted down. Just salary to feed myself 2k, marketing 1k, storage, logistics and other 1k, so am safe for a year if nothing happens.

Clinic company.
So contract has been signed for clinic nr2 and we open 1 of march.
Currently on a train across the country to look at some wallpapers at a studio which deals in luxury producs from Paris.
Will make this the best looking and most luxurious clinic in the country. There is a reason for this. It is not to still my ego. It is because all I invest into making the clinic look nice will be used in marketing and brand building because we will market the clinic on social media. When people see the pictures, they will think "wow, this clinic looks insane. I have never seen anything like this. They must be super good. I want to go!"

I have also calculated that we have about 300 treatments per room. If I make a super nice clinic I can increase the prices by 10usd.
This will yeald 3k more month or 36k more a year.
And I will now own 5 rooms with the possibilty of building 2 more in clinic nr 2 if needs be.
Good ROI on some expensive wallpapers, some designer lamps, decent furniture and some paintings.

My mentor who owned all of the mcDonalds in my state told me a good formula which they work with: QES, Quality, enviroment, service.
We are currently the best in Quality, we try our best with service and now we will be the best with enviroment, and in the mentime, offer a better experience for the customer, more value and more money for us at the end of the month.

It also help that we have all the staff we need foe clinic nr 2. I can open with 1.5 staff that has all bwen fully trained in clinic nr1. Takes about 12 month to become good with the stuff we do because its only we who do it.
There is a way around this and that is to import expertice from Brazil, who is more advanced. (They study 4 years at a university to do this, here its 18 month non university studies)
I am in the middle of trying to legalise a brasilian specialist but the migration takes forever.
Hopwfully she can come sometimes during the summer. Will help alot with training new staff so we can scale.

I have also got a proposition to open clinic nr3.
This is located in a very wealthy city where competitor prices is 20% than what we offer now.
Fully mounted clinic for free, great contract and great location. Also cheap rent.

My idea now is to try to fill clinic nr2 as fast as possibly. (Marketing campaign will come up on monday). As soon as clinic nr 2 is healthy, I snag clinic nr 3.
I own all machibes and for clinic nr 2, I have orderd alot in bulk, so clinic nr 3 will be cheaoer than clinic nr2 which is to begin with, super cheap to mount.
There is also alot of weaker clinics and salons going bankrupt now everywhere so it seems we get a bigger market share, even though the potential customer has less money. Seems my therories is still holding up.

Also on a sidenote. Funny how it works if you offer quality and value. I have had 4 doctors who have contacted me and want to do a coorperations. 3 facial surgeons and 1 Dermathologist. Seems its way easier to hire doctors than to become on yourself.

Summary of year 2:

This year has been a ride, (and I thought year1 was one).
This one really kicked my a$$ but I think I ended up stronger, more experienced and in a better place than I coud have been.

After the summer, I got in a runt, got on antidepressants and was not in a good mood.
Reasons was the perfect storm I described in an earlier post. Had 2 lucrative businesses but almost no liquidity. Machine company was down to 1k at one point, clinic was in the red. Had a newborn son and no money.
Solved this by excercicing like a madman, cleaned up my diet, got in shape which led me to come of the antidepressants and now I feel good again.

(This actually did remind me of a post I red here on the forum. Some guy saved up 200k, bought a couple of businesses. During year 2 he was almost bankrupt and he wrote in his post "Theese was dark times". However, he persevered and then made 200k profit year from his businesses. I repeated this in my mind on the low days and it helped. There is always light at the end of the tunnel).

Also now during year 2, we have prepared everything for year 3. Everything is in controll and it will be easy to grow and scale from here.
Both me and my partner have become obsessed with CONTROLL since we do not want to end up where we were. Now we finally check all thw boxes in CENTS.

Verdict year 2:
Got my financial statement from my accountant:
Holding company: 60k profit tax free
Clinic Company: 30k profit tax free
Machine company: 30k profit taxable.

Liquidity
Machine company: 50k
Clinic nr1: 20k
Clinic nr2: 25k

Paid stock
150k

My accountant did some of his magic to make us pay as little taxes as we could and get as much tax free profit as we could and private cash flow.
He seemed very proud and happy about his work and I am sure he did a good job. Maybie it helps because the clinic and machine company work close together so he can play with the numbers.
Will read the financial statements and try to understand them because book keeping is something I need to learn and understand.

Looking forward to year 3. The businesses are maturing and the groing pains is going away.