When Dr. Sarah Chen graduated from her family medicine residency in 2019, she had a clear vision of what her career would look like: a busy primary care practice, long-term patient relationships, and the steady satisfaction of managing chronic conditions. Five years later, her practice looks nothing like that original plan, and she could not be happier about it.
Today, Dr. Chen operates a dual-focus practice in Scottsdale, Arizona, combining a streamlined primary care panel with a rapidly growing aesthetic medicine division that now accounts for 65 percent of her total revenue. Her aesthetic services menu includes neurotoxin injections, dermal fillers, PDO thread lifts, and platelet-rich plasma treatments. She employs two nurse injectors, an esthetician, and a dedicated patient coordinator for the aesthetics side of her practice.
Her journey from general practitioner to aesthetic medicine leader started with a single decision: enrolling in a Facial Injectables membership. This is her story.
The Turning Point
"I was eighteen months into running my own primary care practice when I hit a wall," Dr. Chen recalls. "I loved my patients, but the economics of primary care were brutal. Insurance reimbursements were declining, administrative overhead was increasing, and I was seeing 25 to 30 patients a day just to keep the lights on. I was exhausted, and honestly, I was starting to resent the career I had worked so hard to build."
The catalyst came from an unexpected source. A patient mentioned during a routine visit that she was flying to another city for Botox treatments because nobody in the area offered what she was looking for. "That comment stuck with me," Dr. Chen says. "I started researching aesthetic medicine that evening and quickly realized the economics were completely different from primary care. Cash-pay services, no insurance paperwork, higher per-visit revenue, and patients who actually wanted to be there."
But Dr. Chen also recognized a critical gap. "Medical school taught me anatomy and pharmacology, but it taught me absolutely nothing about aesthetic injection. I had never held a syringe of filler in my life. I needed real training, not a weekend seminar with a certificate at the end."
The Training Journey
Dr. Chen enrolled in the Facial Injectables Professional membership in March 2021 and immediately registered for the Botox Certification Course. "I was nervous walking into that first training," she admits. "I was surrounded by nurse practitioners and PAs who had been doing injections for years and were there for advanced techniques. I was starting from zero."
That anxiety dissolved quickly. "The instructors were incredible at meeting each student where they were. While the experienced injectors were refining their techniques on live patients, I was getting one-on-one attention on fundamentals: how to hold the syringe, how to palpate landmarks, how to communicate with the patient during the procedure. By the end of the two-day course, I had injected four live patients under direct supervision, and I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time in medicine: genuine excitement."
Over the next six months, Dr. Chen worked through a structured progression of courses. After Botox certification, she completed the dermal filler fundamentals course, followed by lip filler certification, and then advanced Botox and filler training. Each course built on the previous one, expanding her technical repertoire while reinforcing foundational principles.
"The membership model made this progression financially feasible," she explains. "If I had been paying for each course individually, the total investment would have been significantly higher. The membership gave me access to the entire curriculum at a fraction of the cost, plus I could re-attend courses when I wanted to sharpen specific skills."
Launching the Aesthetics Division
Dr. Chen began offering Botox injections from her primary care office in September 2021, starting with just two afternoons per week dedicated to aesthetics. "I kept it simple at first. Botox for the upper face, that was it. I wanted to master one thing before adding more services. My first month, I treated 12 patients and generated about $4,800 in aesthetic revenue. It wasn't life-changing money, but it was proof of concept."
Word spread quickly. Her existing primary care patients were her first aesthetic clients, and they referred friends and family. By month three, she was seeing 25 aesthetic patients per month. By month six, she had added dermal fillers to her menu and was consistently generating $15,000 per month in aesthetic revenue, almost entirely from word-of-mouth referrals.
"The turning point was when I realized that my aesthetic patients were not only more profitable per visit but also more enjoyable to treat," Dr. Chen reflects. "They were motivated, they followed post-treatment instructions, and they came back regularly. There was no insurance company telling me what I could charge or how long I could spend with them. I could practice medicine on my terms."
Scaling Up: From Solo to Team
By early 2022, demand for aesthetic services had outgrown Dr. Chen's available time. She faced a decision: reduce her primary care panel to make room for more aesthetic appointments, or hire additional providers. She chose the latter, and her membership community played a key role in that decision.
"I posted in the member forum asking for advice on hiring my first nurse injector," she says. "Within 24 hours, I had responses from a dozen members who had been through the same transition. They shared interview questions, compensation structures, training protocols, everything. One member even connected me with a nurse practitioner in Phoenix who was looking for exactly the type of position I was creating."
Dr. Chen hired that nurse practitioner, Jessica, in April 2022 and immediately enrolled her in Facial Injectables training. "I sent Jessica through the same course sequence I had completed. Having her trained by the same faculty, using the same techniques and protocols, meant we had clinical consistency from day one. Our patients could see either of us and receive the same quality of treatment."
By the end of 2022, the practice had added a second nurse injector and expanded into an adjacent suite to create a dedicated aesthetics space. Monthly aesthetic revenue had grown to $45,000, and the primary care panel had been reduced to a manageable size that Dr. Chen could handle in three days per week.
Adding Advanced Services
In 2023, Dr. Chen completed PDO thread lift training, adding a premium service that commands $2,500 to $4,000 per treatment. "Thread lifts were a game-changer for our revenue per patient," she explains. "Many of our existing filler patients were ideal candidates for threads, so we weren't even marketing to a new demographic. We were offering a better solution to patients we already knew."
She also expanded into platelet-rich plasma treatments for skin rejuvenation and hair restoration, further diversifying her service menu. Each new service was introduced only after thorough training and supervised practice, a discipline she attributes directly to the structured approach emphasized in her Facial Injectables coursework.
"The temptation when you see success is to add every new treatment immediately," Dr. Chen warns. "I watched colleagues rush into services they weren't properly trained for, and some of them dealt with complications that damaged their reputations. The membership gave me a framework for responsible expansion: train first, practice under supervision, then integrate into your practice."
The Results: By the Numbers
Today, Dr. Chen's practice generates approximately $1.2 million in annual revenue, with 65 percent coming from aesthetic services. Her aesthetic patient base has grown to over 800 active patients, and her retention rate for repeat treatments exceeds 80 percent. She works four days per week, takes six weeks of vacation per year, and reports significantly lower burnout than during her primary-care-only days.
"When people ask me what changed, I tell them it was education," Dr. Chen says. "I didn't have a trust fund or a business degree. I had a membership that gave me access to world-class training, a community that answered my questions at every stage, and a structured path from complete beginner to confident practitioner. The investment paid for itself within the first three months of offering Botox."
Dr. Chen's Advice for New Members
For practitioners considering the same transition, Dr. Chen offers three pieces of advice. "First, do not skip the fundamentals. I know it is tempting to jump straight to advanced techniques because they sound impressive, but your foundational skills determine the ceiling for everything you do later. Master Botox before you touch filler. Master filler before you touch threads."
"Second, use the community. I was hesitant to ask questions at first because I thought my questions were too basic. They weren't. Everyone in that community was a beginner at some point, and the experienced members genuinely want to help. Some of the most valuable clinical insights I have ever received came from community forum threads, not textbooks."
"Third, be patient with yourself. I did not go from zero to a million-dollar practice overnight. It took two and a half years of consistent effort, continuous training, and gradual expansion. But every step of that journey was supported by my membership, and I genuinely do not think I could have done it without that structure."
Dr. Chen's story is not unique among our membership. Across the country, practitioners are using Facial Injectables training to transform their careers and their practices. If you are ready to write your own success story, explore our membership plans and take the first step today.