Founders of Altera Aesthetix: Restoring Confidence, Not Just Faces

Summary

Podcast Summary: Living The Red Life

Episode: Founders of Altera Aesthetix: Restoring Confidence, Not Just Faces
Host: Ray Gutierrez (Guest Host for Rudy Mawer)
Guests: Janie & Martina, co-founders of Altera Aesthetix
Date: October 27, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the transformative power of medical aesthetics, not just for physical appearance but for restoring confidence and emotional well-being. Janie and Martina, founders of Altera Aesthetix, share their philosophy and approach to cosmetic procedures, focusing on patient-centric, ethical, and medically sound practices. They address the changing cultural landscape, industry challenges, marketing in a "before and after" world, education and safety, and what it means to be women entrepreneurs building a values-driven business.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Shifting Perspectives in Aesthetics

• From Luxury to Mainstream
  Procedures like Botox have evolved from being exclusive to TV housewives and the wealthy, to a mainstream self-care option.

  “Ten, even 20 years ago… something like Botox was something that only housewives you watched on TV were doing… But that has changed so much in the last 10 years.” — Janie [00:20]

• Confidence, Not Cosmetic Perfection
  The goal isn't to change faces, but to help people feel like themselves and restore confidence.

  “It's not like, necessarily, I don't ever want to change somebody's face, but just to make them feel more confident in what they've already got going on.” — Martina [01:41]

2. Patient-First Approach

• Personalized Consultations
  Each client is asked what specifically bothers them, rather than being upsold or having their features critiqued.

  “We hand somebody a mirror and say, what's bothering you? It's not like what I see, it's what you see.” — Martina [02:30]

• Conservative, Incremental Treatments
  Rather than offering a package of unnecessary treatments, they prefer to start with the one issue that matters most to the client.

  “If I can fix that for you, your confidence has gone way up…once one thing's fixed, you're gonna find the next thing that you wanna fix.” — Janie [04:45]

3. Aesthetics as Instant Therapy

• Emotional Impact
  They often witness emotional releases, especially in new moms or those experiencing life changes, when clients see themselves “restored” in the mirror.

  “We've had so many people just like cry in the chair just because it finally makes them feel like them again.” — Martina [00:48, 04:01]

• Common Concerns
  Tiredness, aging, or loss of ‘freshness’—commonly addressed via Botox and filler—bring significant confidence boosts.

  “Botox is a great way to fake that you look like you've slept.” — Janie [05:42]

4. Combating Stigma and Misinformation

• Addressing Fears of Looking "Overdone"
  Many clients (and their partners) fear unnatural results due to visible bad cases, but skillful work should look invisible.

  “Your husband is only aware of people that have bad Botox and filler…there's tons of women walking around with good Botox and filler.” — Janie [06:13] “We're also really big on all of our injectors looking not overly done. Right. So it almost looks like they have had nothing done.” — Martina [06:58]

• Education via Social Media
  They dedicate resources to educating potential clients about different procedures, debunking myths, and building comfort.

  “We do do a lot of education on social media and things. And that helps people understand because this is very foreign to people…” — Janie [07:40]

5. Marketing—Challenges and Strategies

• Instant Gratification vs. Long-Term Care
  While some procedures offer quick results (e.g., filler), others like microneedling require patience—a challenge in American culture.

  “For Americans, that's hard. We want instant gratification…some of it you have to do over time.” — Martina [08:05]

• Taboo and Privacy
  Sharing before/after photos is tricky due to lingering stigma, with most clients valuing discretion.

  "You'd be surprised how challenging it is to get a before and after…we're lucky if they tell…their best friend and their sister." — Janie [08:43]

6. Safety, Regulation & Training

• Comparison to Global Standards
  The US lags behind countries like South Korea or the UK in terms of product variety and regulatory ease, but maintains higher safety standards.

  “We're like this big in the aesthetic market. The world is like this.” — Martina [12:24]

• Vet Your Injector
  The lack of strict regulation means unqualified individuals sometimes perform injections—patients must check credentials.

  “Are they actually a medical provider? Cause guess what, there are places near us that they're non medical provider and they're buying it off Amazon.” — Martina [13:45]

• Refusing Unsafe or Unethical Requests
  Not every request is honored if it’s unsafe, outlandish, or not in the client’s best interest.

  “We say no a lot. I always feel like I don't do weird. So if you ask for something weird, I'm probably going to say no.” — Martina [14:39]

• Training is Intensive and Ongoing
  Medical aesthetics is a specialty requiring substantial investment in anatomy knowledge, safety, and technique.

  “Our first year in practice, we spent at least 30, $40,000 a piece in training...so it's something that's super specialized, and rightfully so.” — Janie [17:47]

7. Industry Competition & Collaboration

• Ethical Business Practices
  They avoid “cash grab” approaches focusing on lifetime clients and building trust.

  “It's a lifetime patient versus something...if you...it's a cash grab...that's not what we're trying to do. We're not trying to give you more insecurities than you came in with.” — Martina [10:43, 11:31]

• Community Over Cutthroat
  Despite competition, they value collaboration in the close-knit Savannah market.

  “I do think that, for the most part, we are kind to one another...There's enough to go around for everybody.” — Martina [23:33]

8. Women in Business and Empowerment

• Resilience & Adaptability
  Flexibility, taking risks, and willingness to pivot are key lessons for entrepreneurs.

  “We're willing to take a leap and we're willing to pivot. Most people get stuck.” — Martina [26:53]

• Work-Life Balance & Team Culture
  They strive to create a supportive workspace that values growth for employees and themselves.

  “…we wanted to establish something where we could have a work life balance…We've created this company now where people are able to get that.” — Janie [27:18]

• Mentorship Model
  Their new focus is helping others launch, not micromanaging mature branches.

  “What we can do is say…We're going to help do the beginning part…and then you get to do with what you want to do.” — Martina [27:56]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On why client-centered care matters:

  "You give us what the problem is, and we'll give you the answer." — Martina [00:00, 15:34]

• On the emotional impact of aesthetics:

  "We've had so many people just like cry in the chair just because it finally makes them feel like them again." — Martina [00:48, 04:01]

• On the changing stigma:

  "Botox is like, you went on a two year vacation. That's what it is. Like in a bottle." — Martina [05:52]

• On the safety and complexity of the profession:

  "You can blind a person. Let's be real. This isn't just like...Everyone just thinks it's, like, fun." — Martina [19:14]

• On business philosophy:

  "We're not trying to give you more insecurities than you came in with." — Janie [11:31]

• On collaboration vs. competition:

  "There's going to be plenty of times where you need that colleague or you need that friend to be able to call and say, hey, this happened...I think that that's always going to be more important…than whatever you're going to accomplish by making an enemy out of somebody." — Janie [24:27]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:20 – Janie on Botox becoming mainstream
• 01:41 – Martina on enhancing confidence, not changing faces
• 04:01 – Martina on emotional experiences in the chair
• 06:13 – Janie addresses stigma & misconceptions (husbands, “bad Botox”)
• 07:40 – Janie discusses the crucial role of education
• 10:43 – Martina & Janie on starting conservative and building relationships
• 12:24-13:45 – The US vs. global standards and patient safety
• 14:39 – When and why they say “no” to clients
• 17:47 – Intensive, ongoing training; medical background necessity
• 23:33-24:27 – Competition, collaboration, and finding your “injector match”
• 26:53-27:56 – Women in Power: resilience, adaptability, and mentorship in business
• 29:23 – Where to find Altera Aesthetix online

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Connect with Altera Aesthetix

• [Altera Aesthetix on Instagram/Facebook (Savannah, Richmond Hill, Statesboro)]
• Martina: @injector_martina
• Janie: @thebusynurse

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Tone:
Upbeat, candid, and supportive, with expertise laced with humor and humility. Both founders emphasize the intersection of science, artistry, and human connection in their field.

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This episode is a masterclass not only in the aesthetics business but in values-driven entrepreneurship, emotional intelligence in client care, and women’s leadership in a rapidly growing industry.

Transcript

[Martina]

We are way, way, way, way, way behind in the aesthetic world, 100%. Like, you go to South Korea, you can get a whole new face in, like, a day. Like, it's wild. Just because you put something there doesn't necessarily fix the problem. That's exactly why we ask what is bothering you? Not like, I want my chin done today, right? You give us what the problem is, and we'll give you the answer.

[Janie]

Ten, even 20 years ago, not that long ago, something like Botox was something that only housewives you watched on TV were doing. Right? Or the uber wealthy. But that has changed so much in the last 10 years. And so when we first got into esthetics, that was really part of that movement, really. We were starting to bring esthetics into a patient population who maybe didn't even think about these types of procedures before. And we really made it more mainstream. So now, in addition to your hair and your nails, you're also getting your face done.

[Martina]

We've had so many people just, like, cry in the chair just because it finally makes them feel like them again.

[Janie]

It's a small change, but it makes, like, such a big difference.

[Ray Gutierrez]

How do you keep the safety rails up? How do you have a client and go, too much is too much. Like, you already look fantastic, but you don't need. But you also want to make money like one. Is it good for business but also bad for health?

[Martina]

My name is Rudy Moore, host of.

[Janie]

Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week.

[Ray Gutierrez]

If you're ready to start living the.

[Martina]

Red life, ditch the blue pill, take the red pill.

[Janie]

Join me in wonderland and change your life.

[Martina]

Life.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Welcome back to another episode of Living youg Legacy, the Red Life edition. For Inside Success. I'm Ray Gutierrez. Joining me today are Janie and Martina. They are co founders, and they are in the business of aesthetics of Botox. Let's get real, folks. The exterior matters, right?

[Martina]

Yes. You know, it's not even that. It's not like, necessarily, I don't ever want to change somebody's face, but just to make them feel more confident in what they've already got going on.

[Janie]

Yeah, you're just enhancing what they already have. So, again, people like to think about aesthetics being superficial and, like, does that really matter? Can you really build your life around that? But honestly, you'd be surprised. It's extremely fulfilling because you interact with the world differently when you're confident.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Present client face. Like, you have a must have a face. That's fresh, happy and front facing. That's what we like to say here when we work in marketing. I'm a firm believer that you've got a resume. You, you might add a headshot. And the reason why I'm going down this route is like, the exterior does matter. You're working with these folks. You guys are in the business of essentially making people happy from the exterior and then working your way in. Talk about your process and how you got into this.

[Martina]

I mean, I was working dermatology and that's just sort of part of it. Right. You know, people are coming in and asking about their skin and then, you know, from that goes to like, okay, so I have this problem, I have these lines. I don't. And so we try to take a medical stance at that. If you come in and I'm sick, I have a sore throat. Okay, let me run you through these things. I do the same thing. We hand somebody a mirror and say, what's bothering you? It's not like what I see, it's what you see. So that's the big difference on the way that we practice medicine.

[Janie]

Yes. And I would say 10, even 20 years ago, not that long ago, something like Botox was something that only housewives you watched on TV were doing. Right. Or the uber wealthy. But that has changed so much in the last 10 years. And so when we first got into esthetics, that was really part of that movement. Really. We were starting to bring esthetics into a patient population who maybe didn't even think about these types of procedures before. And we really made it more mainstream. So now, in addition to your hair and your nails, you're also getting your face done.

[Ray Gutierrez]

I was just going to say I'm a firm reliever. I haven't done my nails in a while. But you know, a good manicure on a man says a lot. Like especially the handshake, the whole presentation. Especially nowadays. But I grew up in a different time. Well, my grandma grazed me. Very Cuban in a very traditional, old fashioned way. Talk about the transformation that you see with your clients. Like, folks spend so much money to speak to a therapist, they'll sit in those lips and they'll talk to me for hours. But you folks have found a different kind of therapy that's almost instant. Like you've had transformative experiences. Right. When they see that mirror.

[Martina]

Yeah, I mean, especially the New mom is like the classic one, the New mom. So we have spent 10 months cooking a baby and not feeling like ourselves. And then we're like maybe breastfeeding and just not sleeping. Not sleeping. And you really don't feel like yourself at all. And to come in that chair and be vulnerable at that time. But then also especially something like filler. They look different right then and there. And just giving them that confidence back. I mean, we've had so many people just like cry in the chair just because it finally makes them feel like them again.

[Janie]

It's a small. But it makes like such a big difference.

[Ray Gutierrez]

What do you think it is? Is it kind of like bringing back to their teenage years, their youthful years before they evolve into parenthood? Like, what do you think is triggering?

[Janie]

Yeah, most of the time it's restoring something they used to see. So every once in a while, maybe you were born with really small lips and you finally decided today is the day, you're gonna change that. But for a lot of times, it's something that's changed on their face and now it's just all they see every time in the mirror. So again, we don't usually pick apart people's faces. We let them come in and. And we let them tell us the one tiny thing that bothers them. And that's what we treat that day. Because truthfully, if I can fix that for you, your confidence has gone way up that we can treat anything else that you have an issue with. And chances are once one thing's fixed, you're gonna find the next thing that you wanna fix.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yeah, sure.

[Martina]

And like the tired thing is a thing. Right. So, you know, tear troughs and just like feeling like you don't look like yourself. And I think that's a huge thing when you. I mean, for me, when I was pregnant, I'm Italian, my nose went like this big. Like, right. Like I just stretched out and then everything goes back. So just kind feeling like who you are again. And there's not necessarily. I don't want to look like a teen. I'm 40. Like, I mean, I would like to look like in my 30s.

[Janie]

And Botox is a great way to fake that you look like you've slept. I don't really know how to explain it. Yes, your lines are gonna soften away, but you just look refreshed, like you've had a full night sleep, even if you hadn't.

[Martina]

Yes, that's the best. And it's not like, I think people are so afraid to look like filler face, so they don't even want to try Botox. I'm like, no, no, no. Botox is like, you went on a two Year vacation. That's what it is. Like in a bottle.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Talk about the stigma. Folks think Botox and they think needles and they think about this weird experience or their face is not moving because there's good Botox and there's terrible Botox. There's no in between.

[Janie]

Yeah. Something we hear so much. So our women come in and it's usually that their husband doesn't want them to get it done.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right.

[Janie]

So, I mean, again, not to interrupt you and like chime in on this, but we hear this genuinely almost every single patient, you know, they just say, my husband doesn't want me get this done because he doesn't like the way Botox and filler look. I'm like, your husband is only aware of people that have bad Botox and filler. Right? So. So there's tons of women walking around with good Botox and filler. They just have no idea. And so same with your hair color, right? Like, how many people are dying their hair and you'd have no idea. Cause it's done well, it's done naturally. It looks good. So that is something that we have to kind of unravel with them a little bit. And it's again, another reason that we start really conservatively. You kind of dip your toe in one little area, see how you feel about it, and then you're like, wow, that looks great.

[Martina]

We're also really big on all of our injectors looking not overly done. Right. So it almost looks like they have had nothing done. And that's what we attract. Patients that come in and they don't want to. I mean, some want to look like they've spent money on it, but for the most part, they want to look like they have never had anything done. And I think that's the secret sauce, because if you look crazy, your patients are going to think that they are going to look crazy. So it's kind of this, you know, fine line that you're toeing.

[Ray Gutierrez]

So I got to say, you guys have a very unfair advantage because it's almost like, you know, the transformations is instant, so it's easy to market. It's the before and after. Talk about some of the challenges. How are you marketing? You're doing a lot of on camera education. Talk about that.

[Janie]

Yeah, so we do do a lot of education on social media and things. And that helps people understand because this is very foreign to people. Even nurses and doctors who went through medical school and nursing school don't even know the difference between Botox and filler. So this is A separate specialty that you learn outside of your graduate degrees. But I think that our patients are also very misinformed and they don't know anything about it as well. So it's super important to educate them, really, sometimes before they even come in the door.

[Martina]

Yeah. And I think there's certain things that are not instant that we do something like microneedling that takes time. You don't really see your first real thing for like six months. And for Americans, that's hard. We want instant gratification. We want to do it and we want to see it. And so it's hard for patients to see that. But I promise, like, those little things or skincare, like, I'll have someone be like, oh, my God, your face looks great. But I just, I can't do the skincare piece. I'm like, well, girl, you ain't just going to get from Botox. Like, I'm doing it from every angle. And so that's the other piece that people have to understand. It's not all instant gratification. Some of it you have to do over time.

[Janie]

And yes, we do get before and afters, but you'd be surprised how challenging it is to get it before and after.

[Martina]

People don't want to let you do it.

[Janie]

They don't want their face put out there to the world that that's what they get again, because Botox is still taboo. And so you sometimes. And maybe you'd be fine if some people knew you got it, but you wouldn't want everybody to know. So really, in our industry, we're very grateful for patients that allow before and afters to be shared. But truthfully, we're lucky if they tell, like their best friend and their sister.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh, for sure. I'm a firm believer in it, but at the same time, I always get compliment. Oh, your skin's so great. I'm like, no, this is 42. Like. Like, I could, I could definitely use some work. What's something that's very common that clients walk in and you do right away? Is it crow's feet? Is it like, what if I walked into your, into your office? What would be the first thing you go, hey, Ray, you need?

[Martina]

Because, well, I think most of the time it's what is bothering you. So it's either here. For most women, it's here, it's here or it's here, like, and if we treat just that one, I promise when you come back at your two week, you're gonna see here. If you didn't see it before, it's just sort of what happens, because these go away. So for me, like, if I could only get one thing, it would be my crow's feet. Cause I feel like they make me look like a grandma, and I hate them. And so that is the one thing that I will always.

[Janie]

And it's a very real thing, because you'd be surprised how many times we sit a patient in a chair and you can just see it. The forehead lines are just popping. And they're like, well, these tiny little lines right here, they just really bother me. And guess what? That's all we treat that day. Because she's gonna come back and be so happy that these little tiny lines are gone. Chances are she actually comes back and says, yeah, but these are getting way worse. And it's like, no, we just eliminated this. And now you're moving on to the next thing that you see.

[Martina]

It's even things like, we've had people with, like, really bad acne that, like, can't. They're like, I don't have lines. I don't have lines because they can't see past the acne. You clear their acne. We had a patient like that. Like, we cleared her acne, and she was like, oh, my God, look at all these wrinkles that I now have. I'm like, oh, they were there before, but we just weren't looking at them.

[Janie]

So again, so it's just super important, we feel like, to start conservative and start with what bothers the most. It's not a bad business move. You're not getting a smaller transaction because they're going to come back, right?

[Martina]

And it's a lifetime patient versus something. Like, if you. It could be a cash grab. You come in and I'm like, oh, well, you need to do this. And you need to do your cheeks, and you need to do your temples. And if you. You know, that's gonna be $7,000 today. People are like, whoa, like, I came in here. Cause these two lines. And now we. I'm paying you.

[Janie]

Where am I in now? Maybe not where we live.

[Martina]

Well, and we're from Savannah, Georgia. So, yeah, I mean, we're still in a small. It's a small town. And you're still, like, talking about small town America and what JD Said in the beginning, when we first started, all they would ever talk about, we'd go to these big conferences, and they're like, we've only tapped 17% of the market. I'm like, yeah, because you're not marketing to the masses. You're Marketing to the like. That's what they're telling you. You have to do this one hour consult where you rip apart their face. I mean, I would hate that. If I was a patient, I'd never go back.

[Janie]

Yeah, you get enough courage to come in and tell somebody what bothers you about their face, and then they rip apart the rest of it and tell you, now it's 10 grand. I mean, that's not what we're trying to do. We're not trying to give you more insecurities than you came in with.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Right? Yeah, no, that's very. I wouldn't say clever because it almost sounds malicious, but that's very wise. Like, you definitely understand that your. Your client has a very vulnerable experience, and they're willing to grow. They're willing to literally heal and Change and Metamorph. Like, 40s is the new, like, 14.

[Martina]

Sure.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Definitely do not feel my age. Look around you. I definitely don't do anything remotely close to what I should be doing, especially as a. Especially as a good old Cuban Latino from Miami that, you know. So how do you talk about. You mentioned the American. The American way. Now, hot dogs, instant feel gratification. Do you all do this work outside of the United States? Does this even exist? If I go off into Switzerland where everyone's topless, is this something that's happening?

[Martina]

So we're like this big in the aesthetic market. The world is like this.

[Janie]

I mean, when you say America's actually.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Far behind, I thought we'd be forehead.

[Martina]

No, because we have FDA and we have all of that stuff. So there. I think there's something ridiculous, like 70 neurotoxins on the market. It's like Botox. We have, what, six? So we are way, way, way, way, way behind in the aesthetic world. 100%. Like, you go to South Korea, you can get a whole new face in like a day. Like, it's wild.

[Ray Gutierrez]

How do we fix this? Do we go up to Melania Trump, like, yo, bro, what else are you doing?

[Martina]

There's also other things that I say. Like, we're a little bit more on the safety side, right? So, like, if you're in Europe, if you're in London or in England, anyone can inject. Like, you could be like a car mechanic and say, you know what? I'm gonna start doing Botox work. Guess what? You can.

[Janie]

So you're probably not really gonna see that. But as you can tell, there's not as much regulation and control and things concerning with safety like there is in the U.S. which even in the U.S. honestly, that could actually probably use some help and support.

[Martina]

It could.

[Janie]

Medspas are becoming popular. So more and more people are popping up. Med spas.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yes.

[Janie]

And so some of them are doing it well and some are doing it a little bit unsafe and a little bit non compliant. And so that's, I mean I think part of our growth mission too is that if more people are gonna pop these up, we wanna help them do it correctly.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yes.

[Janie]

And safely.

[Martina]

And that's the other thing. You should vet your injector like, okay, are they actually a medical provider? Cause guess what, there are places near us that they're non medical provider and they're buying it off Amazon. Right. So I know it seems wild that that happens, but it's happening. Right? So definitely if you feel like you're in a place that doesn't feel clean or safe, you should probably get up. Like it's one of those situations. Cuz that happens. And I would assume Miami probably is.

[Janie]

Oh, I'm sure it's happening here.

[Martina]

Right?

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yeah. Miami's popping like legally. Very legally and illegally. Like I always say, Miami is like the land of fake frauds and thieves. Like everyone's a gypsy out here. Like you. You got to be very clever to survive out here. It's, it's grown up. But beyond that, besides that, how do you keep the safety rails up? How do you have a client and go, too much is too much. Like you already look fantastic. You don't need, but you also want to make money like one. Is it good for business but also bad for health?

[Martina]

We say no a lot. I always feel like I don't do weird. So if you ask me for something weird, I'm probably going to say no and yes. Is that going to turn some people off? Yes. Because they are going to go to the person that's going to say yes. It just is what it is. But at the same time it's not safe. Sometimes we don't do nose filler. Okay. Nose filler can be done very safely. I'm just gonna send you to the plastic surgeon to do that. We're not gonna do that. And I think that's okay. I mean.

[Janie]

Yeah. And it's kind of about, you know, picking your heart or picking, you know, there's pros and cons to everything kind of thing. Yes. Maybe saying no to somebody might seem bad for business, but if you gave them really overdone lips and 10 other people saw that and saw that that was your work. And now 10 people don't want to come see you because of that. That's also bad for business.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Sure, sure.

[Janie]

Right. So there's a trade off every time you dec. But we do. People don't think that. But we say no all the time.

[Martina]

Yes. Or people will come in and say, like, let's say I want my cheeks done. And their cheeks are like this. Okay. What is it about your cheeks that you don't like? And they're like, well, I don't like these lines. There's like this famous woman that's from, like, I don't know, somewhere in Europe. And her cheeks are like this big. But guess what? Her nasolabial folds are just the same as they were before. Just because you put something there doesn't necessarily fix the problem. So what? That's exactly why we ask what is bothering you. Not like, I want my chin done today. Right. You know, so we try to, like, you give us what the problem is and we'll give you the answer. And I think that that usually works a little bit better.

[Janie]

Right.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Where's the technology going? Are we at some point we're going to just kind of rub like some sort of palm and Botox in, or is it always going to be a needle? Like, what is actually happening when that needle goes in?

[Janie]

I mean, for the most part, yeah, it's. Unfortunately, you still have to, I don't want to say no pain, no gain in aesthetics, but there is still a little bit of that. Even when it comes to things like laser hair removal, typically the ones that hurt a little bit are going to be the more effective ones. Right. And yes, it does involve a needle, but something like Botox or using the tiniest little needle, it's really a very quick process. Nine times out of ten that first timer says, oh, that's it. Right. So it's something that I think most people in their brain have said, this is going to be so much worse than it is. And then you realize it's really just nothing to it.

[Martina]

Our console, like, if you're a new patient is 30 minutes. My injection time is probably 30 seconds. So most of it is, what are we trying to do? What are we trying to achieve? What neuromodulator do we want to use and where are we treating? And then like, what's the dosage? Let me map you out all of that stuff. And then us drawing up the medication, me drawing it up takes longer than me actually injecting it. We try to do quick, like, we do not numb for talks. If you want to, you can Come in early and you can get it numb. That's fine. Honestly, it's kind of. I am the. I'm the biggest baby known to man. I hate needles. I had four kids without epidurals. Cause I'm afraid of needles.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh, wow.

[Martina]

And I get them on my face just fine. It's just. Am I gonna sweat? Sure. Yeah, I'm gonna sweat. And I'm gonna have to wipe down the chair afterwards, but it'll be fine. And it's really not that bad.

[Ray Gutierrez]

You all didn't just, like, walk off a car lot and started this business. You guys are all, like, mini super geniuses. Do you wanna kind of brag about where y' all come from?

[Janie]

I don't know about super geniuses, but like I told you, there's a lot of nurses and doctors who. They have no idea the difference between Botox and filler. So that's what's hard about aesthetics. It's definitely something that's a specialty that you go into after you get whatever degree or specialty or, you know, again, nursing, pennsylvanp rn. Those are usually the designations that can do this type of stuff. And it's a specialty that you learn afterward. I mean, our first year in practice, we spent at least 30, $40,000 a piece in training. You know, one training be six to $8,000 just for a day to. To learn something about injectables. And so it's something that's super specialized, and rightfully so. It involves a ton of anatomy, a ton of safety features and things that you need to know. So it does take a lot of homework. I would love to say, yeah, just pop up your own med spa, and you can be successful like us too. And you can. You definitely could do that. But I don't wanna disguise the amount of work and time and things that were put in to get off the ground.

[Martina]

Yeah. And in the beginning, what's funny is that, like, a lot of places are gonna treat everything. When we were in the beginning, we literally did, like, tox from here up and lips, and that was pretty much it. And we did it all together. And then we went from lips to doing, like, some cheeks, and then we added things on. Like, nowadays, people are like, oh, I'm a master injector. I've been doing this for a year, and I do, like, all the things. I'm like, you ain't a master of anything.

[Janie]

Master Injector is not really a real title.

[Martina]

It's not a real title. And if you really look at it, it's the amount of injector. Right. There's no.

[Ray Gutierrez]

It's like salt bae. It's like, do they just hold the injection a different way?

[Martina]

Like, yeah, it's silly because really, it's the amount of hours you put into your crap. And so we were doing this stupid franchise, and the biggest issue with us doing it is that everyone was like, well, they'll already know how to do that. They're a nurse. Like, no, they don't know how to do this. And they wanted to let us only have a week to train these people. Like, that's not safe. It's not safe. It's not safe for the patients, it's not safe for the injector. And it's not fair to whatever business owner decided to, like, break this off. I mean, really. And truthfully, we don't. We let. Make our people watch us for months before they're injecting filler. I mean, you can blind a person. Let's be real. This isn't just like. Everyone just thinks it's, like, fun.

[Janie]

It's like the nail salon or the hair salon, and they just forget that it's real medicine. And I get it. It's the beauty world. So you want to pretend like it's downplayed. And again, we kind of do downplay it so people aren't afraid of it.

[Martina]

Correct.

[Janie]

But at the same time, you do have to remember, in the end, it is medicine, and it takes an intense amount of training.

[Martina]

And why you can't just rub that Botox on your face is that. That. That neuromodule has to get into the muscle.

[Janie]

To the muscle. Belly, obviously.

[Martina]

Yeah, the muscle. You basically make it so it can't fire anymore. I mean, you're making it so acetylcholine cannot go against a synapse to make the muscle. I mean, there's all the things. It's on snap 25. Like, we know all of those things before you're doing that. It's not just some fun liquid that I'm putting in your face to make you not move. So I think we might look at it.

[Janie]

And the problem, too, is I could put Botox in this area of her face and it gives me a great result. But if I put some just right here, she might have a really bad result. So, again, it's what I love to just say, yeah, we'll just squirt it all in there and it's great. And it might get rid of all your lines, but you're going to look really weird because it starts affecting the muscle anatomy and how your face moves and how it sits and we.

[Martina]

Okay, so I was doing this, what, four years before we opened and now we've been open six years. I don't even inject the way I did last year. Like where I'm constantly changing. It's constantly changing and evolving with patients anatomy and their faces. It's not cookie cutter like back in the day. If you pull out the Botox, like little insert and you follow what's on there, that person's going to look crazy. Like their brow hair is going to drop and their eyebrows are going to be like this and they're going to be unread and everyone's going to know they had Botox and bad Botox. So that's the problem is that everybody's.

[Janie]

Different and there really aren't any clinical trials for this. It's really a lot of just trial and error and experience of what injectors have realized works and doesn't work over the years. And that's one of our favorite parts about having multiple offices and hiring a lot of providers now that are doing this is we get to like team up and bounce ideas off of each other, get an opinion. Hey, this happened. What do you think? And that's I think super important in the aesthetic industry. It's not fun to feel like you're on an island. And so again, that's why I think things are constantly innovating and growing is because they're now more our people coming together and learning about what's really the best techniques.

[Martina]

What needs to happen is they need to have some kind of like specialty for this. I just don't know how they accomplish that as fast as it needs to happen. And a lot of people don't want that. Right. So like I'm on the board for amspa, the American Medical Spa association for the State of Georgia. And like my idea is like people don't like to hear what I have to say because no, I don't think you should take an eight hour course and be able to inject Botox and fillers. Like, I don't, I don't think that's safe. Yeah, no, so. And I would say the majority of people that have been doing it for a long time feel the same way.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Oh, for sure. It's just going to hurt the overall bottom line. You're going to have a lot of amateurs just like poisoning the well. Yeah. There's so many avenues. We can take this conversation. And do you all have competitors like, like Is there someone down the street that's just like. Like, do you all give each other this think I like, what's the business like? And how do you stay relevant and, like, unique?

[Janie]

Yeah. I mean, so we definitely have competitors, right? So again, like I said, the med spa world itself is booming.

[Martina]

You know, I would say it's competitive in nature, just in general, right?

[Janie]

It is competitive in nature. And I would say, you know, years ago, our competitor was truthfully more of a plastic surgeon. They were doing these things on the side. But now I would say that's not quite as common. A lot of plastic surgeons have left surgery and are specializing more in injectables. But for most surgeons, surgery is their bread and butter. So that's usually their specialty they stick to. And then somebody like us who are injectors, we're doing that same thing every single day, just like the surgeon is. And so that's what really makes you good at your craft, is when you're doing it all the time and not just every once in a while.

[Martina]

Our area, though, in Savannah is kind of nice that we do have a group that we get together. We used to get together more often, but it gets hard because then you have to get sponsors to do these dinners and things like that. But we do get together. We all know each other. Again, Savannah's a small town. What, 250,000 people, right? We're a small town. So everybody knows each other at this point. And I do think that, for the most part, we are kind to one another. I mean, I think I wish that we were kinder to one another, but I just think it's the nature of the beast. There's enough to go around for everybody. Absolutely, 100%. Because I'm gonna do something different than somebody else. And you're gonna like the way that other person does it, or you're gonna like the way I do it.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Sure.

[Martina]

And that's okay. Like, I'm not gonna be everybody's injector. You can ask Janie, like, if you want, like, way more talks, it's probably gonna come for her. Cause I'm kind of, like, don't give as much as, like, everybody else. Cause I want people to look, move, and do all the things. And some people don't want to do that.

[Janie]

So we said it's still an art and a craft. So everybody has their own flavor of it. So I don't want to compare it to a hairdresser, but just like, you might like this hairdresser and not that other. So it's the same with injectables. Right. You may have gone somewhere and enjoyed your experience and then somewhere else and not. And so I think there is someone for everyone. I think that there is plenty. Like you said, we can all play in the sandbox together. In an industry like this, you're going to be way better off if we all can help one another than hurt one another. Right. There's going to be plenty of times where you need that colleague or you need that friend to be able to call and say, hey, this happened or can I borrow this? Or what about that? And I just think that that's always going to be more important to have than whatever you're going to accomplish by making an enemy out of somebody.

[Martina]

I mean, when we started, there was really only one real med spa in Savannah at that time and it was the only one for like 10 years, something ridiculous, like a really long time. And so when we started, I didn't know how cutthroat it was. I was just like, this sounds fun, like let's do this, you know. And so, I mean, again, I didn't know what I didn't know.

[Janie]

But if you're not passionate about this and like what, like again, that long process with your patient and that lifetime value, you can see it as a cash grab. So that every, like the people that are trying to do it as a cash grab, I mean that's why I think it becomes cutthroat is then, you know, they're competing over those patients. Again, that's not our mo. That's just not our style. It's not what we're working for. We want those long term relationships with the patients.

[Martina]

I feel like that's when you have a non medical provider, like owning the business. When it's like the, if you ask the provider, for the most part they're not trying to do that. It's that non medical person that's saying like you need to see this many people and you need to do this many syringes and that's not fair. And that's again why we try to like stay in both lanes. Because I think that's when you get in trouble is when the non medical person is telling you what to do.

[Janie]

We even had to get creative on how to pay our injectors because we wanted them to be compensated well if they did good.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yeah.

[Janie]

But at the same time, if I pay you more based on how many syringes or units you shove in somebody, I get it. Like you want to feed your family. That's a slippery slope. So we had to get really creative with, like, this algorithm that we did that basically, you know, incentivizes them and compensates them for hard work. But it's not this. Just like, you know, I get paid per unit and per syringe, because again, again, you don't want to just have filler faces.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Well, we just finished filming your Women in Power episode. Thank God there's two of you. Women in Power. What are we going to learn about y' all in this episode?

[Martina]

I don't know. I guess that we're, like, resilient. I think that's like, the biggest thing with owning a business that I've realized that's probably how we got to where we are. Like, we're willing to take a leap and we're willing to pivot. Most people get stuck. And so I think being able to just say, okay, let's throw that all in the trash and let's find something new to do with this group of people and being excited about it is what makes you resilient.

[Janie]

I think the other thing that you'll learn about us in that is also that we, you know, yes, Botox is fun and we make people feel pretty, but it's about so much more than that. Again, for us in our internal mission is that we wanted to establish something where we could have a work life balance, you know, or we could have a career. We could use our degrees, we could use. Use our education and contribute to the world on a daily basis, but also still have time with our family. And so again, we've kind of expanded that mission into the employees that we hire as well. So I think that's a huge part for us is, you know, we've created this company now where people are able to get that. And again, do women own a lot of companies? I guess not right now in this.

[Martina]

But at the same time, like, now, we may not be doing like, a franchise for another, but what we can do is say, like, this person's, like, really interested in doing this. Okay, you know what? We're going to work with you, and we're going to help do the beginning part. And we're really going to open because that's Janie. And I realize that's what we're good at. Like, I can open a business like that. Like, I can take a space. Jadie and I'll spend a weekend. We'll get it ready, we'll get your operations going. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. I just don't want to manage it for the long term. So let me get you up and running, and then you get to do with what you want to do. And so being able to give that to people makes me excited.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Yeah, that's kind of what happened here. How can folks find you? How can folks get a hold of you?

[Janie]

So we're pretty. We're decently active on social media. We are no social media gurus by any means, but we do like to put our face on there regularly. Be silly, be transparent, educate from time to time. Right. But honestly, just make it where people feel comfortable to come in and see us again. We are in way more hair and makeup right now than you will ever see us any other day of the year. We like to keep it real and raw because I think that that makes people feel more comfortable. I think in the aesthetics industry, there is this, you know, stigma that you have to be kind of poised and put together and all the things. And while that is great, and I love those people who can do that, you know, that's not really our. Most of our patients. Right. Like, we're all figuring out life one crazy, chaotic mess at a time. And so we just like to have that natural relationship with our patients where they just feel comfortable.

[Martina]

So we're. Altera Aesthetics is like our regular handle, but we have Altera Aesthetics Savannah, Alterra Aesthetics, Richmond Hill, Alterra Aesthetics, Statesboro, and then I am like, Injector Martina, and.

[Janie]

I am the busy nurse on social media.

[Ray Gutierrez]

Those are great names. Right on. Well, I appreciate the gold and black. It's very aesthetically pleasing. Yeah. That concludes yet another amazing episode of the Living youg Legacy podcast for Inside Success. I am Rig Gutierrez SA.