I’m a HUGE empath. I’m easily triggered and feel emotion SO STRONGLY!

Hopecore on TikTok? That does me in! Every video will have me sobbing!

So of course, the holiday season and just how people are MORE charitable and giving around this time makes me so emotional.

I LIVE for Angel …

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But here’s the thing…

When you own a small business, the holiday season should be starting NOW!

Quarter 4 each year accounts for more than 1/3 of our revenue. And I work HALF the amount of time in…

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This past week was our biggest week this year thus far and by a good amount, too.

A random week in August.

No promos, no discounts, no sales of any kind.

Just me doing what I love best.

But let me tell you, this last week I had an energy shift. I could literally fe…

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Sometimes they even have incredibly similar skin.

Yet six months later, one person’s skin has completely transformed while the other feels like they’re still stuck.

First of all, this bums me out when this happens because o…

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“Being booked out months in advance.”

And don’t get me wrong—it’s something I’m INCREDIBLY grateful for!

But here’s the unpopular truth:

Being booked out isn’t always the dream people think it is.

It creates scarcity… but it also creates friction.

When someone finally deci…

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What I mean is that protocols we learn—especially from our brands—to use their products for our professional treatments CAN help and be a baseline, and yes we CAN get results through cut and dry protocols, but the BEST results come when you know how to really customize each treatment and go off-book for protocols to get out of this world skin transformations!

Plus, not every client’s skin is the same so following protocols to a T is not effective for each client and could be why some clients get stagnant with results.

I LOVE adjusting protocols for every single treatment I do—even in the most minor ways.

For example, I love adding in the KrX oxygen booster ampoule on clients that are really congested or inflamed in their acne boot camp treatments.

Another example is if I’m doing a chemical peel but see that a client could handle mixing the peel with some gentle liquid microneedling, I’m going to do it.

In order to do this efficaciously and safely, you really need to understand skin physiology, products, ingredients, skin conditions, etc.

Ask yourself WHY you’re making each decision you’re making for the treatment: why this cleanser? Why do this modality here? Why am I mixing these two peels together?

Being able to ask AND answer WHY will be how you truly make BIG changes.

When it comes to having a successful e-commerce with your esthetics business, having cutie little analogies or nicknames for your products that MAKE SENSE and are ON BRAND for you will help you stand out and for products to …

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It was painful, red, inflamed, angry; but also congested and fungal breakouts and I was the worse skin picker and tried everything.

Almost literally EVERYTHING.

I’ve done the antibiotics, I’ve done spironolactone, I’ve done topicals like clindamycin, sulfur washes, epiduo, tretinoin, etc. I’ve tried proactiv and other kits from Target and Walmart. I’ve tried trendy online skincare. I tried tanning beds for acne. I tried homemade Pinterest skincare suggestions.

I’ve even tried accutane.

I had seen 4 different dermatologists in the 6-7 years I had my BIG struggle with acne.

The first 3 would just switch me to something different to try after a 5 minute appointment and dismissing my concerns for my quarterly appointments and would tell me eventually something would work.

No education, would only see them every 3 months, and dismissed in a matter of minutes.

Finally the fourth dermatologist I saw was listening to me! She understood I had exhausted all other options and suggested Accutane.

I heartily agreed.

BUT!

The Accutane didn’t work.

I did almost a year of it.

My story’s a little different though.

I didn’t get better OR worse.

It was as if I wasn’t taking anything at all.

Finally at our 10 month appointment, this derm told me “I guess you’ll have to learn to live with it or hopefully grow out of it.”

Heart = shattered.

No way.

That’s it?!

I’m exhausted to have acne until it decides—if it decides—to go away?!

Then, I researched. I had always been interested in skin and estheticians, but back then, esthetics wasn’t as it is today.

I followed a couple estheticians who at the time were considered “controversial” because they believed lifestyle and health and wellness all related to acne.

So, I bit the bullet.

I did a virtual hair scan and found all the factors feeding not only my acne, but my Hashimoto’s and other health struggles.

I also got on a simple Face Reality Skincare regimen.

The crazy thing?

I was clear in just under 6 months. COMPLETELY.

HUH?!

You’re telling me if I had done this all along I might not have had the YEARS of anguish that I did?!

Well, lesson learned.

And years later, I decided that I would take the approach that worked for my own skin for my clients.

And fyi, I’m not saying dermatologists are bad. There are some AMAZING ones! I’ve even had derms REFER clients to me!

I’m just saying that they weren’t what worked for me.

And that’s okay.

Because I did eventually find what worked for me!

And this is why I’m so big on my 360° Skin Garden Method at FPE!

My approach is for those that WANT it! It’s work, but it WORKS!

I’ve helped clear nearly 500 clients in-clinic and virtually with it.

That’s gotta count for something, right?

RIGHT.

And I’m so grateful it does.

Clients were loving their sunscreen makeup (and so did I) and it was giving an additional form of revenue now offering “makeup” and skincare and services.

However, I realized within the next year that it wasn’t the kind of pro…

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The first 30 seconds of a consultation is so important. Obviously, being professional and looking the part and first impressions are important, but I also believe the first 30 seconds is important for this reason:

Before we ever talk about products, routines, hormones, or treatment plans, I’m already collecting dozens of clues.

I say allllll the time how the skin tells a story long before someone starts talking.

I’m reading the story each client’s skin is telling and putting the pieces of it together in my mind.

Here are the first things I’m usually noticing.

1. The overall “energy” of the skin:

Before I zoom in, I zoom out.

Does the skin look calm? Or is it inflamed? Does it seem dull, dry, oily? Does it actually look healthy and glowy? Are there deep fine lines of wrinkles or signs of barrier disruption?

Sometimes I can’t tell you exactly why something feels off yet—but years of treating skin trains your brain to recognize patterns before you consciously identify them.

There’s a sort of intuition that a provider can get when they truly understand the skin and how complex it is and look at it from all sorts of different angles.

2. Where the inflammation lives:

Inflammation is rarely random. Is it mostly the cheeks? Is it in the jawline, forehead, neck, back, chest, chin, around the mouth?

Different locations often send me down completely different thought processes.

Location isn’t a diagnosis—but it’s a clue.

And it’s important to note here that I don’t 100% believe in the “acne face maps.” I think there’s SOME validity to them, but not end all, be all to them.

3. The type of lesions:

Not all breakouts are created equal. Are they mostly clogged pores? Are they inflamed bumps? Deep cysts? Papules, pustules? Blackheads? Combination?

Depending on what’s presenting, my mind is already turning its gears to think of a possible treatment plan for my client.

4. The skin barrier:

One of the first questions running through my mind is:

“Can this skin even tolerate active ingredients right now?”

If someone’s barrier looks compromised, calming and rebuilding often becomes the priority before chasing acne.

I’ve had sooo many times I’ve told a new client we’re going to stop the actives they’re using for a time to repair the barrier and then will add actives back in later.

I’ve received wary or skeptical looks sometimes but I simply say “trust me,” and their skin will heal and respond to actives better in a couple weeks.

5. Oil production:

I’m asking myself:

Is this skin producing too much oil or is it actually dehydrated and overcompensating?

Those are very different situations that can look surprisingly similar.

6. The texture:

Texture often tells me as much as active acne.

Does the skin feel congested, rough, thin, thicker/more resilient, or smooth?

Healthy skin has a different “feel” than stressed skin—even before I touch it.

There’s a certain bounce and glide with healthy skin I feel when I touch it. It’s one of my favorite feelings.

7. Healing patterns:

I’m paying attention to what happened after the breakout.

Does every blemish leave pigment? Is there lingering PIE/PIH?

Are scars forming easily? What kind of scarring is forming if so?

How someone heals tells me a lot about the level of inflammation happening beneath the surface.

8. What the face isn’t telling me:

This might sound strange… but sometimes I’m noticing what’s missing.

Is the chest clear? The back? The neck? The scalp?

The body often gives context that the face alone can’t.

When acne is localized to just the face, this helps me get an idea of how much inflammation internally that person is experiencing.

But not only that, if they have inflammation anywhere else (like bloating in the gut, for example), this is a sign to me that what’s going on in their skin is relating to whatever is causing the bloating in their gut.

9. The client’s relationship with their skin:

Sometimes this is the biggest clue of all.

Are they embarrassed or frustrated or sad? Are they exhausted and defeated? Are they hopeful? Are they apologizing for their skin? Did they make any comment about how they’re sorry for putting on makeup for the consult but they just absolutely cannot leave the house without makeup on because they feel that down about their skin?

The emotional side of acne matters just as much as the physical side because it shapes how I educate, encourage, and build a treatment plan they can realistically stick with.

10. The whole person:

This is probably the biggest difference in how I approach consultations. You all know how much I love and focus on my 360° Garden Method approach to skin health.

I’m never just looking at skin; I’m thinking about sleep, stress, nutrition, hormones, lifestyle, the nervous system, gut health, inflammation, etc.

Because as I believe in my Skin Garden Method, the skin doesn’t exist in isolation, it is a whole conglomerate of things affecting it.

Key takeaway:

The first 30 seconds of a consultation aren’t about finding the “perfect product.” Or coming up with “the right treatment.” Or even “making the most money.” They’re about gathering clues.

Every breakout, every patch of redness, every area of congestion is a piece of the puzzle. (I love puzzles!)

The more clues I collect before I ever start asking questions, the better I can understand not just what is happening—but why it’s happening.

That’s where real treatment planning begins. And I talk alllll about this in my Consultation Masterclass. If you missed it last month, we decided to offer the replay for purchase so you can learn from it! The replay is lifetime access so you can review again and again as needed for success with your consultations.

Clients don’t need a biology lesson. They need a picture they can understand.

As professionals, to us using our professional jargon is natural and makes sense to US, but we have to remember that more often than not—our clients are not versed in the language that we’re taught to use when it comes to the skin.

…

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Some months, I have 150+ appointments that are mostly consisting of my shorter, 30-45 minute treatments, and other months my longer treatments 90+ minutes are the ones dominating my schedule, but I have fewer appointments on my schedule.

What matters to me in t…

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I’m not just saying they because I’m an ambassador for them.

I’m saying that as someone who was cleared by Face Reality and has cleared nearly 500 clients in-clinic and virtually using Face Reality.

My clients and friends in the industry KNOW that if I no longer align with a …

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