Clinic businesses: Chelsey Brown, ‘How I built 3 clinics in 4 years’

Dr Tim Pearce

June 20, 2024

If you are a cosmetic nurse practitioner or doctor trying to build something special with your aesthetic business, it can be very valuable to learn from those who have been through the battles and got the scars; they have much to teach us.

Dr Tim Pearce sat down for a podcast with Nurse, Chelsey Brown, a Canadian RN from The Cosmetic Clinic. Chelsey is a true inspiration for many aesthetic clinicians thanks to her remarkable achievements. A successful cosmetic nurse specialist, she has built three aesthetic clinics in Canada in four years and recently announced that she is choosing to pivot from aesthetics towards longevity medicine. Chelsey’s keen observational skills, determination, and willingness to embrace opportunities have been pivotal in her success.

This blog gives a teaser into their lengthy discussion, touching on her background and what has driven her to success, you can watch the full podcast below. A second blog is coming soon looking at her top tips for business success.

Learn how to introduce longevity to your aesthetics clinic with a new eLearning course from Dr Tim Pearce, with insight from leading longevity experts: Dr Simisola Elizabeth Oke, Dr Nichola Conlon, and Nurse Chelsey Brown.

An unorthodox path to owning a successful chain of aesthetic clinics

Despite her humility, Nurse Chelsey’s remarkable journey caught Dr Tim’s attention when they met at the Inner Circle event in Switzerland. She has established three thriving clinics, an impressive feat considering the challenges of managing even one, admits Dr Tim.

Her path to medical aesthetics is also inspiring and not straightforward (watch the podcast for the full lowdown). Chelsey grew up in a small town in Northern Ontario, initially dreaming of becoming an actress or doctor. After studying biology and gaining experience in the beauty industry, she eventually pursued a qualification in nursing. Her relentless pursuit of growth led her to gain diverse experiences, from the emergency room to working alongside a plastic surgeon and moving to the ‘big city’ to achieve her goals (even persuading her university to allow distance learning).

Dr Tim highlighted that Chelsey has an impressive ability to undergo significant transformations. Her journey is a testament to the power of ‘letting go’ and embracing new opportunities, even when it means leaving behind something valuable.

This is a challenge many aesthetic clinicians face, not the difficulty of identifying what they want, but the challenge of relinquishing their current situation, e.g., morphing from an NHS doctor to a private, cosmetic doctor. Chelsey can let go of old identities and move forward decisively, which is inspiring.

“I’m okay with the seasons, not everything was meant to be in every season and people, lifestyles, and jobs become part of that season. When the season ends, they’re meant to stay in that season, not everything is meant to come with you where you’re meant to go.”

Chelsey’s success is anchored in core values that remain constant: being a good person, continuously learning, and growing. These values have guided her through every transition, allowing her to stay true to herself while adapting to new roles. Her story highlights the importance of staying aligned with one’s deepest values, which can provide the confidence and intuition needed to navigate and embrace change successfully.

She also talked about being very decisive when something feels right, noting that she can become obsessive when thinking about a new business opportunity, not letting it go out of her mind, and allowing it to grow to fruition. Her thoughts start very grandiose, but she admits to having to reverse engineer her plans because you cannot get from step 1 to step 20 without going through steps 2 to 19.

Chelsey outwardly thanked her mother for instilling an unwavering sense of self-belief from a young age which has always helped to propel her forward, despite adversity, alongside the work ethic inspired by her father who she described as the hardest working individual she has ever met.

“If you put in the hard work and you have strong belief in yourself, there’s literally nothing that you can’t do in this world.”

However, she believes that we all grow up in a world where fear drives everything we do and places limitations on us, only some people make the leap and go beyond.

Dr Tim noted that he feared not reaching his potential, explaining that you must build a different mindset to pursue valuable goals independently of external validation, and recognise that true confidence and growth come from self-approval rather than seeking others’ approval, or wanting others to like you and what you do, which is not always the case.

Aesthetic clinics are medical clinics

Chelsey is very serious about adhering to medical mandates and safety standards, ensuring that her aesthetic clinics maintain the rigour of traditional medical practices.

Training (for clinical and non-clinical staff) is essential and must be backed by science, not anecdotal methods. She noted that the biggest disconnect between the medical and aesthetic worlds is the perception that aesthetics can operate without the same strict protocols. Chelsey firmly believes that we must apply our fundamental medical knowledge to aesthetics and maintain high standards to preserve our professionalism. She was particularly critical of practices she believes dilute our field’s credibility, such as unprofessional marketing tactics she has seen, like nurse injectors who use provocative imagery to promote themselves – this would not happen in any other traditional medical sphere.

Everything we do is evidence-based, and straying from these principles can undermine our progress and reputation. This commitment to maintaining medical rigour is why she refuses to label her clinic as a ‘Medical Spa’ because they strictly adhere to offering sterile services and do not offer spa services like nails, for example.

Similarly, like Dr Tim, she refers to her clientele as patients and not clients. To differentiate between customers, clients, and patients, Chelsey explained that customers are involved in a transaction, like in a retail outlet, clients have a bit more of an intimate relationship, but with patients, it involves medical responsibility. Patients do not need to be ‘sick’ to be called patients, she believes that everybody is a patient; it does not have to be a negative thing, it is just the fact that you are in someone’s care, whether you are sick or healthy, like an aesthetic patient.

Watch the full podcast to learn more about what drives and inspires Chelsey (and has led to her success), including the fear of what her older self will think about the achievements of her younger self, why she has no regrets, why she values micro-networking over attendance at large-scale conferences, how her patients and staff inspire her, and why she wanted to be off the ‘hamster wheel’.

If you have any questions or discussion points on longevity or aesthetics, you can find Dr Tim Pearce on Instagram, follow Nurse Chelsey, or find her cosmetic and regenerative medicine clinic, The Cosmetic Clinic on Instagram.

Do not get left behind, become an anti-ageing specialist and learn how to introduce longevity to your aesthetics clinic with Dr Tim’s new eLearning course.

Aesthetics Mastery Show

How I Built 3 Clinics in 4 Years as a Nurse Injector

Dr Tim says:

“In this episode, I sit down with Nurse Chelsey, a true inspiration for many clinicians. Chelsey’s remarkable achievement of building a clinic empire in just four years is a testament to her resilience, medical expertise, confidence, and unwavering determination. Discover how Chelsey, as a nurse injector, successfully established three clinics, the ingenious marketing strategy she employed to keep selling aesthetic services during lockdown, and her top tips for building a thriving aesthetics business.”

Watch the full Aesthetics Mastery Show here.

Viewers have added their suggestions including:

@TheOrignalTRockz

“Love her, great role model, fantastic, very interesting interview! 16:34 I wrote this comment right at the beginning, but when she said „as being warm“, my positive impression skyrocketed. Really love her way.”

See more feedback and comments from practitioners and clients on our YouTube channel – feel free to join the debate!

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Dr Tim Pearce eLearning

Dr Tim Pearce MBChB BSc (Hons) MRCGP founded his eLearning concept in 2016 in order to provide readily accessible BOTOX® and dermal filler online courses for fellow Medical Aesthetics practitioners. His objective was to raise standards within the industry – a principle which remains just as relevant today.

Our exclusive video-led courses are designed to build confidence, knowledge and technique at every stage, working from foundation level to advanced treatments and management of complications.

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