How do you attract patients and find your own place in the aesthetics market, a highly sought-after field with so much qualified competition? To answer this and other questions, Nepuga specialists share valuable insights on Nepuga Pod.
On the show, we welcome alumni, giving them space to talk about their professional experiences after specializing in aesthetic and integrative health. Each has their own view, but their testimonials resonate with the expectations and aspirations of professionals seeking success in the field.
One of the recent guests was aesthetic nurse Luan Brenner. Based in Ribeirão Preto (SP), Dr. Luan talks about his journey through the postgraduate program, discussing his study strategies and how he was able to make the most of the experience.
In the most recent episode, Nepuga Clinics commercial manager and podcast host Victória Puga talks with fellow nurse Dr. Lívia Selani, who spoke about her journey through the specialization, how challenging it was to balance her studies and time with her family, and how the specialty was one of the biggest drivers of her return to the job market.
The Need for a Broad Awareness of the Aesthetics Market
Brenner has already appeared twice here on the blog: interviewed while completing the program, he was already doing market research, trying to understand opportunities and ways to stand out; he was also honored when he received recognition at the Academic Excellence Award, when he was already seeing patients in Ribeirão Preto and consulting in São Paulo.
Discerning in business, he explains how his market research was even more extensive to truly establish his clinic in Ribeirão Preto.
“Starting a business isn't easy, because there are several risks. You can go bankrupt, you might not be able to handle the workload. You have to have a very good administrative foundation. It took me a year to understand the market niche here in Ribeirão Preto, to understand how the women and men who come looking for procedures behave, which procedures they get most, which least, to understand the city and the local competition.”, says Dr. Luan.
In addition to understanding the demand for procedures in his region, the nurse was able to see which procedures could set him apart from the competition, and even which location would be best for establishing his business.
“Gradually, things happen, and you need perseverance, confidence in your work, mastery, knowledge”
Based on the extensive market research Dr. Luan carried out, he reports that he found plenty of competition in the city, and one of the ways he set out to differentiate himself was to stand out in one specific procedure, lip filler.
This way, he has focused on the procedure as his flagship, and has been taking specific courses aimed at establishing it as his true differentiator in the aesthetics market.
Asked what advice he would give to nurses interested in the specialty, Brenner offers words of encouragement:
“If your dream is to live inside a hospital, great. But if your dream is to reach higher, then go after it, spread your wings, put yourself out there, really make it happen, because success is something constant, it doesn't happen in the blink of an eye. Gradually, things happen, and you need perseverance, confidence in your work, mastery, knowledge.”
Dr. Lívia Selani brought a quite different perspective from Dr. Luan's reality. The aesthetic nurse spent a long time away from her professional occupation, choosing to dedicate herself to motherhood, and when she decided to return to the job market, she took the initiative to specialize in aesthetic nursing.
“It takes dedication, and if you want it, you have to go after it”
Part of her interest in aesthetics began with her experience working with plastic surgeons, but she worked in different specialties throughout her career until she stepped away for a while to devote herself to raising her children.
“I think that when you want it, you can do it. If you want to work in this field, go after it. I was out of the job market for 10 years, and the specialization wasn't easy, with a family, with kids, you have to travel to do the practical part, there's study time, so it takes dedication, and if you want it, you have to go after it.”, encourages the aesthetics specialist.
Despite all the time and energy an advanced specialization like this requires, the effort proves rewarding, since it opens the doors to a highly valued and flexible career, in which it is possible to spend time with family, something so important.
But she says that her interest in providing care through aesthetics was what most influenced her decision to take the specialty:
“Care in nursing is the keyword, and I think, taking that to aesthetics, we're working with self-esteem, so performing an aesthetic procedure, facial or body, is an extra layer of care. [As a professional] you have to imagine you're doing it on yourself, take every care, do what you truly master.”
Having become an aesthetics specialist, Dr. Lívia came back to the market with full force and is working in Ribeirão Preto, Jardinópolis (SP), and Castro (PR).
To follow these and other updates about the aesthetics market, be sure to follow Nepuga's YouTube channel.
Laís Bianquini
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
