DNP Ep. 68: How You Can Start An Aesthetic Business and More With the Help of Dr. Kiiyonna Jones, RN, PhD

Sandra Pagenta: Dr. Nurse Podcast fam, welcome to another episode of the Dr. Nurse Podcast, and I am so happy to have on the show today, Kiiyonna, did I say it right? Yes, you did Jones. I practice too. I was at home. I was practicing it. So welcome to the podcast guys. You heard a little bit about who she is prior to the podcast.

She’s a full-time entrepreneur. She went live in March of 2021 with her business called Luxe Beauty and Wellness Boutique, as well as she’s. Co-host of a podcast called Nurse Boss Shift Podcast, and she also has a coaching business called Lux Beauty Academy where she teaches people how to do how she do.

And so we absolutely have had a blast while talking and I’ve just been so impressed. Guys. She is an RN and she’s a nurse practitioner and she’s PhD and she’s just all the things. This girl is bringing it. So I am so happy to dive into your journey and for you to just drop nuggets all along this conversation. Welcome.

Dr. Jones: That’s the plan. Value, value value. Jam pack. Come on.

Sandra Pagenta: Come on. So I am so excited to talk to you as again, like I said, as was diving into what you’ve been doing and how you started your own business and all these different things. I’m like, this is gonna be so incredible and inspiring. So first, take us through kind of how you see yourself, what your day to day looks like. I’d like to just start there.

Dr. Jones: So I, first of all, I, just to correct one thing, I started business in 2017. I started out as a permanent makeup boutique. Lux Beauty and Wellness Boutique was just exclusively permanent makeup, teeth whitening, and v steaming, believe it or not, , that’s when I started . Oh, oh, okay.

Full time as an entrepreneur until. My last, well, okay, so I had been teaching for a long time, so as a faculty I was still adjunct, so I didn’t stop being adjunct until July of 2021, but I hadn’t done anything bedside since February of 2021. When I stopped doing travel, I had did a travel assignment. So just to give a little context, I consider myself the nurse, disrupt.

I am the disruptor, y’all. I and I talk a lot of trash. I use my degrees to connect with my audience and then when I need to leverage them to connect with the other people, I can do that as well. , yes, but I am definitely the nurse disruptor. I use my life story and I also use my educational background to evoke change and to evoke thought into our profession and what we are capable and able, able to.

That’s my, that’s my thing. . Yeah, that’s everything. Even though I am an aesthetic than beauty and all that, but for me it’s bigger than that. It really is about impact and value and being the voice, being the person that people need to see to say, wow, if she did it, I can do it.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about what your current business that you are operating right now.

Mm-hmm. offers. So the aesthetic part, kind of what are services that your business offer?

Dr. Jones: Yes. So the, my Boutique is, which is a mepo called Lux Beauty and Wellness Boutique, and I offer aesthetic treatments Botox fillers, PDO threading scleral therapy. I still do offer non-medical treatments like teeth whitening, v steaming, and permanent makeup.

So that’s where I started. So those are pretty much the treatments that I offer. Going into 2023, I’ll be doing wellness, a lot of I do ivy hydration too. I do, I’ll do be doing a lot of like, pellet therapy for women who are over the age of 40, which I am. So it’s, it’s a personal experience for me.

So I’ll get, I’ll be branching more into the wellness. Come, come 2023. My business as from the service side as well as the coaching side, is really everything that I am and it’s what I offer. So like as I’m growing and becoming, you know, having these different challenges that come with aging, I’m offering it to my clients.

You know, weight loss, you know, things like that. So the same is true for my service based business as well as my coaching business. It’s just. Everything I am, I don’t do anything that I’m not willing to do myself, and I don’t offer anything in my business that I’m not willing to do myself.

Sandra Pagenta: Interesting. So, Okay, so you do, so do you operate and run the business by yourself or do you have nurse practitioners up underneath you? Do you have RNs underneath you? Yeah. So about your business structure?

Dr. Jones: I’m the only rn and medically it’s just my medical director and myself. So I’m the only nurse practitioner there.

Licensed nurse. And then I have my body contouring specialist, my guest relations. And so it’s just, Medically, everything else anyone else can do. But I do all the medical stuff. It was important for me to make sure that I know, especially from the medical, it’s okay with like teeth whitening and other ones that are not so risky.

But anytime it has to do with like a medical treatment or service, you really wanna make sure you understand it and you don’t just hire anyone if. Especially us as nurses cuz our licenses are on the line. It’s, it’s different if it’s someone who is not a healthcare professional. Let’s say they’re in business and then they just wanna own a practice.

They don’t have no license to lose. Like we have to be mindful of that cause we do have a license to, to lose, potentially lose. So for me it was very important that I really. Been able to kind of dive deep in my treatments and really understand them. Safety, you know, and that’s also important cuz I coach nurses to do the same thing, so.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. Yeah. And how many, what’s your day to day look like? Are you working 40 hour weeks? Like again, you’ve got so much going on. How are you kind of balancing and managing everything you’ve got?

Dr. Jones: Heck no. I do not. Them days it’s over with. Okay. I spend time with my family. , no. I take clients twice a. In my space, in my spa.

Other times, like say, say for example, Sundays and Mondays, peer space, people come and rent out the space to do their photo shoots. You gotta get creative. Like I learned that after Covid. Okay. I was like, I am never gonna get caught with my pants down again. Definitely multiple streams of revenue and way to get money, which does not just require me.

So about two days a week, for example, right now, at the time of this recording, it’s November. I’m done until next year. Like, my clients who are getting on my calendar are in January and February. I’m not taking any more clients. I take December off. So I don’t work 40 hours a week. Never will I do that again unless it’s just something happening during that moment.

And it’s seasonal, but like to just be like committed to 40 hours. No, I do read a lot and I study a lot, but it’s, it’s not work for me. So, but as far as like committing to 40 hours even at my own mepo, I will not do that again in my.

Sandra Pagenta: Interesting. So you may not, I mean you may not wanna answer this, but you know, I think you told me I’m completely an open book, Sandra, just go, but I want to know.

Is your salary at whatever hours you’re working right now, is that something that’s been able to sustain your lifestyle? Because that’s the thing, I’d be like, oh my gosh, I have to work this in order to make this money. Right? That’s what you get trained in the hospital. The hospital trains you. You want that one, you want that 1 25, you want that one 50?

You better put your 40 hours in. So is that something that you’re saying or are you saying, no, no, no, no, no. I make that and I don’t work that.

Dr. Jones: So in my aesthetic practice alone, working two days a week, I far surpass my salary as an employee, and that’s only my two days a week. That doesn’t include my coaching.

When you add that, It’s a lot . I’ve just, I mean, because here, okay, let me just give you, let me just give you some perspective, cuz like I said, I’m an open book and anybody I can help, I want to, so I’m just, and this is something I actually talk about in my webinar so people can watch it to, but I give the business model for someone who is a solopreneur.

Who is a nurse or a nurse practitioner who has just a room that they’re renting, a medical office room who takes two clients a week, you can bring in $10,000 a week. Only two clients. Okay, I’m sorry. Two clients a day for four for four clients, so it’s four clients. You could bring in 10,000 a week. And honestly, it’s not even any type of crazy treatment.

It’s just like Botox and basic fillers you can bring that, bring in 163 k. Easy. Easy. Now, a couple things. I’m in California, in la. That’s one thing you gotta consider the market, but you can do that anywhere because now we’re not getting paid for just our time. We’re getting paid for our skill, okay?

Mm-hmm. , can you exchange skill our value for money? It shifts. And so in my bootcamp, that’s what I talk to my nurses about. It’s like, no, you have to think differently because now it’s not up per hour. Like you can inject someone, you know, Botox and filler, that’ll take you an hour of your life. So should you get paid for an hour?

No. Cause you’re providing a highly skilled treatment. You should be paid per the treatment, per the value. Right? So that. Past my salary. The coaching does really, really well as well, so,

Sandra Pagenta: wow. So you’ve got people signing up. Tell me how to do what you’re doing, Dr. Jones. I mean, that’s pretty much what you’ve got going on.

Pretty much, yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. So I wanna kind of go, take me back to the start of how you started your business. Cause I’m getting a lot of nurses that are like, okay, I wanna do something for myself. I wanna get started small. How did you kinda walk me through your journey to how you. Opened it up.

How did you get started in the side hustle gate? Because I know you’ve been an academic professor, or you’ve got this understanding of the academic part with the PhD. You’ve also worked at the bedside. You told me just before, you know, you did a per diem shift, locums, or you think you said, I think you said travel nursing assignment, and so you’ve been working bedside.

Mm-hmm. . And so tell me about how you’ve kind of done this gradual shift to entrepreneurism.

Dr. Jones: You know, okay, so this is a great question, by the way. A couple things I have. I chose nursing because I loved the fact that I would not be stuck like I knew my person. I knew that I get bored easily, right? So I wanted the option to be able to do different things.

But when I went to nursing school, everybody told me I needed to go to the bedside. I knew I didn’t wanna go to the bedside, but I did it anyway. And I tried to be a little defiant by going to critical care instead of going to med surg. Right. . I still was miserable. Okay. Yeah. But I was working for an organization.

A governmental organization, the largest one in the United States. . Mm-hmm. at the bedside, . And I was miserable. And so after three weeks, I, I mean three years, I resigned with no plan. That was my first introduction to the power of. Belief, manifesting the life you want and really, really trusting in your higher power minds as God.

So I’m a fa, I’m a believer. So God trusting in him that he was gonna take care of me. And so that was my first introduction, believe it or not, to entrepreneurship, because at that time when I left, I was like, all right, first of all,

Sandra Pagenta: I didn’t have plans get real. It’s about to get.

Dr. Jones: And I had, I was making, this was back, you know, in 2000, let’s see, that was 2008 I graduated, so it was 2011.

So I was making really good money back then. I was almost at six figures. Mind you, I’m in LA so I was almost at six figures just doing my regular shifts and this, you know, organization paid really well. So I started just dibbling, dabbling, like. Was adjunct at a university and this was before I became a full-time faculty.

So I was just adjunct doing clinicals. Then I’d do like registry here and there, you know, I just was flirting. I did actually, I worked for a drip company that was way back then. IV hydration just to see what it was about. Yeah, I did home health fake figured out. That only paid me about $10 an hour. Cause I didn’t know how to do the Oasis, which is a charity, so like, Flirted with so many different things and I gave myself permission to like check off my list.

Like, okay, yep. Nope, that didn’t work. That didn’t work. That didn’t work. You know? And on the journey, I ended up applying and got on full time as faculty and I was like, whoa, we only have to work 19 hours and we’re considered full time. Yep. 19 hours full time. I was like, oh my gosh. So from there I started like, you know, working, I worked at UCLA per die just four days a month.

So I kept that. And that was, that’s an, that’s an amazing organization. I worked them for I think eight years, just per diem. And so at that time I started investing in myself. I became house soup. I did that part-time also house soup. What is that? House nursing supervisor. Oh, okay. Did that for five years.

Loved it, but. It came to a point where I wasn’t being challenged anymore. It was like, kind of like the easy job, you know? Cause I just go there and it wasn’t much to do until something happened. When stuff went crazy. Of course there was plenty, but like when it’s downtime. So I just decided it was time.

I felt like I was a micro entrepreneur already cuz I was juggling like full-time over here, part-time over here for die here, you know? But it was. , even those still had a ceiling. Cuz I, I falsely put in my mind that, you know, because I could schedule my two days for the part-time and I, you know, had only my classes on this day and I could schedule myself at ucla that, you know, I had control.

I didn’t, cause if anything happened or if one of my kids were sick and I needed to call out. I was already on the schedule, you know, so I started to realize it was, it was a pseudo sense of security like that I was really lying to myself. And so that led to me investing in myself, personal development, you know, I’m a firm believer in it.

I still do it after all these years. And that led me into starting my permanent bank business. Now I noticed you said people were saying like, okay, it’s time and I wanna start small. I didn’t start. And I didn’t have anyone to tell me otherwise, but that’s what I teach. So the people who come to me, they have to be willing to start small.

I almost lost everything trying to go too big because I had no one to tell me otherwise. So for me, I teach Start small, do it on the side, scale and grow. Go per diem, then eventually transition away when your side business starts making enough money to sustain you. That’s my approach. Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. That’s great.

So if you could go back, you would tell yourself like, okay, okay, hold on. Like keep a, keep a per diem going while you got this going. Just don’t completely.

Dr. Jones: So I, not just, I, cuz I didn’t pull away until it was time, but I have told myself, don’t get a 2000 square foot location and have a huge overhead. It’s not necessary.

That’s what I would’ve told myself. And so I. Probably stayed working longer than I would have if I had just a small suite, you know, slowly and then gradually scaled because there is a learning curve and entrepreneurship just period. So as much as we think we know, and we could pay and pay and invest in all these different, you know, coaches and business mentors and business strategies, until you’re in it, you really don’t.

And so you can learn and prepare for the common pitfalls and mistakes, and you can do that, which is good, but it’s not until you’re in it and you’re like, oh my gosh. So you have to deal with that. Then you’ll be ready. So that’s, yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: Cause I mean, it’s true. Even whenever you’re working as a new nurse on the floor, you have to like, even though like they, you have a preceptor that’s there with you, like it’s not to that day that you are like, you know, I love that show.

Naked and Afraid, like you are on your own naked and afraid that you like, wait, it’s real. It’s all on me. Yes, exactly. It’s real. So I think that’s a perfect way to describe exactly what you’re talking about, like, And so you naked and afraid you don’t know

Dr. Jones: like even in my coaching, all I am doing cuz the content is there, like I have the course all that is there, but pretty much what I’m doing is preparing them for those that time mentally.

Like what are you gonna do when you know that’s the best preparation? It’s like, like if you wanna relate it to nursing, it’s great when all your patients are fine. But what about when everybody’s. That’s when the, you know what hits the fan and you really can tell if you’re prepared or not. So what about when you don’t have the money to pay your lease?

Or what about when clients just start canceling or something happens? Covid shuts you down. I need you to be ready for that. You can always be ready for the good times. That doesn’t take much preparation, you know. So, yeah,

Sandra Pagenta: that is so good. So one of the things I was wondering about as you were talking, and it just kind of came to my mind, was, okay, so when you’ve done all these different jobs, how did you figure out to, how did you figure out aesthetics?

Because you’ve done so many different things that were actually quite separate from aesthetics. So how did you end up choosing, how did that become your niche? How did you end up choosing that?

Dr. Jones: Okay. First thing I want your listeners to know is it all starts with. And the reason you either don’t know what you’re supposed to do or haven’t taken, the step you need to take is because you need more work on you.

That’s just the flat out answer to that. Now, once I started doing the personal work, That’s when everything started to be revealed to me. And I will tell you an example, and I always tell this example too as well. When I, I knew that I was not very approachable and I was not one to like talk to people I didn’t know.

Like I was very guarded just before my upbringing and things I had been through in my life. And so it wasn’t into, I, I started realizing, If you don’t step outta your comfort zone and you don’t start getting in rooms and getting to know people, you’re gonna stay in this exact situation you’re in. And it wasn’t a bad situation.

I worked, I was making over six figures, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t happy with it and I knew the change had to be within. So that’s when I got my first life coach and I started to step out and just ask people questions and just talk to people. And that kind of honestly, it led me to my first business, which was the permanent makeup business.

A lady I was working at, working out with at the. I normally don’t talk to people at all, and I ha I was in my process of working on myself. And so she mentioned that she was in business and I asked her, like, who I, I waited a whole hour to ask this lady. I had been thinking about the whole hour cuz I was, so, like I said, I, it was outside of my comfort zone.

So finally at the end of our workout it was a class, a weight length class. And I asked her, I was like, you, you said you’re in business. What’s your business? And she just took me under her w. She’s like, you should do permanent makeup, and I had never heard of it. I started researching it and she had a actual a space, which was the 2000 square foot location.

She’s like, you can rent this. Don’t worry about, you know, the fact that you haven’t been in business. You’re a nurse. I’m willing to help you, and the rest was history. Now I have my permanent makeup business. Things were going great. One of the doctors at the hospital I was working at is house soup. He’s like, you know what?

I love your work ethic. You’re always positive. This is, this is, again, working on myself. You’re always positive. Like I love the things that you’re doing. Like when you’re here, it’s great. I see you’re in business. How can I invest with you? He invested in the business, he became my medical director, and the rest was history.

And it all started with me working on me. And that’s what I want your listeners to take away from that message. .

Sandra Pagenta: Wow. Yeah. So by meeting this one lady, she kind of showed you the ropes of how to do the, the permanent makeup, and then as you’re just like,

Dr. Jones: yeah, she was not even, she was a retailer for clothes.

She just had the location, but she was like, you know what, you should, I heard of this. Go look it up. And I looked it up and I was like, oh my God, this is great. Like, I liked doing brows. I don’t wear makeup, but I always liked brows. And so it was kind of perfect for me and. After she told me, I looked it up.

I was doing my research, and then I just found somebody who would train me and I paid for training and the rest, I just, I just started everything that I had in me that I knew was blocking me. I started to unload and do the opposite and really step into my power, and that is how I got to aesthetics. It wasn’t ever the plan.

I just, my prayer had started to become just, God show me. I don’t even know what that looks like, but in the process I was working. And I knew that the path would be revealed because I was working on me. I was the problem.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh so I just did an episode with Tiff Gibson, and she talked a lot about emotional intelligence and working through your issues and that entrepreneurship is not gonna fix your life.

Like, it’s just not, because whoever you go there you are. My dad always says that, he’s always taught me that like Sandra. Your problems are gonna follow you. Like you can change settings, but it’s always, there’s always you as the common denominator. Right? And so I love what you’re saying. How did you start that work?

Because again, I feel like now we have, I’ve had two episodes, two entrepreneurs say the exact same thing of like, wherever you go, there you are. So you need to really figure out what’s holding you back. I guess my first question is, why do you. What was some of the beliefs that you had inside of you that were holding you back and that you had to just go like, this is a lie.

Like I’m deconstructing this lie and I’m gonna live in truth. Mm-hmm. , what was one of them? I’m just curious to hear if you don’t mind sharing. I don’t. And then how did you do that work?

Dr. Jones: Yeah. No new friends. Was a big one for me. No. What? And it? No new friends. . Oh no. New friends.

Sandra Pagenta: No, I thought you said nude.

At first. I was like, yeah, I don’t think I want new friends either. ,

Dr. Jones: no new friends. No new friends was my, I did not, my circle was very tight. I had my same friends from high school. We didn’t let people in. If a new girl came, we did not like her automatically, just cuz she was new, you know? And what happened was, and I, I started to unpack this, mm, probably about eight to 10 years ago, when.

I knew this wasn’t it. Like I had reached the point where the people, I’m from the inner city of la so I’m from South Central, and I had reached a point where people who I had grown up with and my family, they thought I was living the life, but yet I was miserable. I was miserable because I didn’t feel like I, I was bringing in money that people would think was good, but I.

I didn’t feel like I was living to the fullest of my potential as far as like what I had inside of me, right? I wasn’t able to really get that out as an employee. Limited, right? The things I post, some of it I wouldn’t have been able to post if anybody had paid me hourly, right? I would’ve been limited.

Now I could say whatever I want. You don’t like it? Too bad. Nobody owns me, right? So in that process I started to get really resentful and I was like, you know, I gotta do something about this. And I knew that was one of the problems I had. I knew it because I started to, in the process of me realizing that I had to change, I started to listen to YouTube channels.

Like a lot. I stopped listening to the radio. I only listened to YouTube and podcasts, and all of them was motivational empowerment, Les Brown, Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi, ET to hiphop preacher. Like I just kept listening. That’s all I heard. And so over probably a process of maybe six months, there were common themes I could extrapolate.

Your circle is your circle, a circle or cage? Okay. And I started to realize that I wanted so much more. And I would talk to my friends about, like you, I could see their value. Like I’d be like, oh my God, you’re so good at this. You should do this, or you’re so good at that. Or like, let’s go on a retreat.

Let’s go on a, you know, conference that nobody wanted to do. And so I started to feel. Suffocated. Like I, first of all, like I was trying to force them to do something they didn’t wanna do. Not everybody wants to do what you wanna do. Right? And I had to be okay with that. And I remember the day was probably about six years ago after, you know, my journey began and I had already had my therapist and I had already had a life coach.

I sat next to my husband and I told him one night, I said, you know what? I’m gonna have to get some new people around in my circle. And he’s like, what does that mean? I was like, I’m gonna have to step outside. Like I, I can’t force them. And they don’t want to, they shouldn’t have, like if they’re happy with their life, they should be, you know?

And so it was the very first time I was in a, a Facebook group and then a young lady. I had posted, oh my God. I thought that was the world. Like I literally posted on this Facebook group and I thought I had done the world. I was like, oh my God. I actually put up a post on this Facebook group, and so one person responded and she sent me a dm.

Hey guys. And thanks for listening to another episode that doctrinaires podcast unscripted. I would like to take this time to let you guys know about the doctor nurse podcast website. On this website. I have free resources for nurses that are looking to up their career. Maybe start a side hustle. I also have my Etsy shop where I’ve created really cute digital downloads for nurse practitioners. In regards to life. Pregnancy. Planning. As well as portraits guys check out my resources@thedoctorspodcast.com and let’s get back Episode.

Dr. Jones: She was like, are you in la? I’m like, yeah. She’s like, let’s link up for lunch. And I was like, What you wanna meet up. And I’m like, I told my husband, I wonder if she gay .

Sandra Pagenta: And then he’s like, why?

Dr. Jones: Like that? I was like, oh no, do girls do this? Like just, and she was the sweetest, the best breath of fresh air. And you know, it just transformed my whole outlook.

I don’t know why I thought the way I thought, but it was what I thought. And she changed all of that in. Lunch and after that I was just open to meeting people and it has transformed my life. Like I have, you know my, I don’t know if you know this, but I have the nurse boss Mob, which is community of, of over a hundred nurses who are aspiring your current entrepreneur.

I love it. Okay. My inner circle nurses, like I entrepreneurs, like, yeah, that was my biggest, and just imagine that one idea was holding me back from all of. Yes.

Sandra Pagenta: You know, I told my husband this similar situation because again, with my job going part-time and all the different things, because I began to feel that same feeling of like, why am I being limited?

I totally feel like there’s so much more I could do, and I started the podcast and I looked at him a couple days ago and I was like, I would’ve never met these people that I’m talking to. And the things that I did if I didn’t just. To heck with it all. I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna start this up. I don’t know who’s gonna come.

I don’t know who’s gonna listen, but I’m just gonna do this thing. And I have met the most incredible people because again, I’m talking to strangers every day. Like, this is what I do. My podcast, I’ve never met these people. And so it’s just incredible that like once you get outside of these self-limiting beliefs, that you have these things that you’re holding yourself back from, that you will step into something and you’re like, why was I so.

What was I so afraid of? This is incredible. And again, it’s vulnerable. You set yourself open to like interesting things that may or may not be positive. Like I’ve had guests that I was like, that was not a positive interaction, but at the same time there’s been so much positive that it’s just like, oh man, just go for it.

So I love that. That is such great advice. Yeah. Yeah, it’s true. And so one of the things that I was. Again, wondering as you were speaking as well is, you know, there’s this moment where, excuse me, where you went from side hustle. Well, I guess you told me you kind of jumped all in. You didn’t really do the side hustle thing, you just completely jumped in.

I did. I was working for three years, right.

Dr. Jones: I was working as part-time house soup two days a week. I was working as faculty full time. I also was working four days a month at ucla and I was driving to San Diego on Thursdays for my PhD. So, I was doing it on the side. .

Sandra Pagenta: Yes. And then you were doing your, your, your makeup business on the side.

Dr. Jones: Permanent makeup. Mm-hmm. on the side. I just had a big location, but I was doing it on the side. Yes. I see. Mm-hmm. .

Sandra Pagenta: Okay. Okay. Okay. So then at what point did you know financially, mentally, it was time to let go in March of 2021, when you were like, let’s go. I’m letting it all go. I’m a hundred percent entrepreneur.

How did. How did you get to that spot?

Dr. Jones: So in March of 2020 was when Covid hit. Mm-hmm. , and I’m in the state of California. California is the very first state to close down. Yeah. And so elective treatments, nobody cares. . Yeah. So I had to close my doors and from March. Well, the end of March, it was from March to August.

It was like sorta, they gave us a little room in August, but I was closed for the most part. Couple things happened during that time. I realized that my stay with, now, mind you, I was still doing adjunct by the way that I had already transitioned to adjunct. So I was starting my segue to transition as a full-time entrepreneur before Covid happened.

So I had already relinquished, I was lead faculty. I gave that up. I was just doing adjunct. So I was able to still do my adjunct even when doors were closed. In about August, I said, okay, I’ve been here at my location two years. My lease was about to be up, and I was like, it’s time. I’ve outgrown this. And so there was covid, I hit, you know, just things getting into perspective.

I had started, I had wrote my ebook already, so people were purchasing my ebook. It was great. And so then I was like, okay, I, it’s time for me to transition now in that process. What was the second one that hit the second variant? Hit . Oh, yeah, Delta. Delta hit yep. About October, November, bam. I was closed again and I had just signed a five year lease for my new location, which was nicer, larger, very close to my house.

And so I was like, well, I’m gonna, I had never traveled before, but there was an opportunity to pick up a travel assignment in December, so I did that for eight weeks, but it was in that moment. Where I realized I’m done. This is it. Like I’m not going back to the bedside at all after my travel assignment.

I’m about to be give it everything. It was the experience that I experienced too much, too much death, too much outta my 14 years. I had, like I said, oh, one of my reels, like I had more people die on me in eight weeks than 14 years. And I still have PTSD from, from Covid? Yeah. And I still have PTSD from it and it.

You know, being there with those nurses. Cause prior to that assignment I hadn’t worked since July as a, on the bedside at mall. Mm-hmm. . And so when I went back I felt like I was in a war zone. I did not recognize, although I was in a different hospital cause I was a travel assignment, but it was like I didn’t recognize it anymore.

The nurses just were so tired and you know, I was like, okay, God, this is why you brought me here so we could go ahead and put the nail in the coffin. So I did my eight. and I have never been back since. So that was, it was kind of, it was already happening, like I was transitioning, but it was in that moment I was like, I’m done.

Yeah. Your mind was like, we’re done. Yeah. Yeah. I’m done with all of it though. Like I gave up, that’s when I resigned from faculty officially. Like I was still doing adjunct initially, so it was still kind of with one little pinky toe in. I was like, I’m done. I’m done with it all.

Sandra Pagenta: Wow. And so since that moment, what have you noticed has changed inside of you?

Dr. Jones: My life has changed. I, I always, you know, I, I was a teenage mom, so my daughter is 25, and so my oldest look

Sandra Pagenta: like you have a.

Dr. Jones: My, my oldest is 25, my youngest is five, she’ll be six. And so, and then I have a 15 year old. They’re all 10 years apart. Girl. Long story. But the point of the matter is , they just being home, being able to take my kids to school, I really. Was not able to do that, you know, and just being able to set my own time and that gives me more time to think, giving me more time to study, to read, to be better for my clients, you know?

So it’s been great and my money has triple, almost quad, almost quadruple this this year. Last year it was already really good, but it’s almost quadrupled this year. So between the coaching and the aesthetics practice, and it really gave me, I realized that, you know, even though I was becoming an entrepreneur and I started to really realize that I no longer wanted to take the same time, I also started to realize through the coaching aspect of my business that I didn’t wanna have to be there to make money.

I wanna be able to make money wherever I am. I don’t care if I’m on the other side of the world. I don’t care if we, in Iceland, I don’t care where we are. I wanna be able to bring in money and I want it to be the same amount or more. So I spent a lot of time establishing myself as an expert in the industry and an authority.

And that has helped dramatically. And it’s actually doing what I love, which is like reading, studying, you know, just thinking things. I get paid to do that talking. I get paid to do that. I used to get teased cuz I talk so much .

Sandra Pagenta: So when you say you’re reading and learning, you’re doing, you’re reading and learning about how to be a better business owner, how to be a better aesthetic provider, how to get, do different skills, taking training, investing in yourself so that you can pull yourself ahead of the pack and say, I have a level of expertise.

It’s not just my degrees that I. I am qualified. I’m also highly competent and highly specialized in these areas. And I I will show that in, in the care that you get from me. So people are willing to pay for that, right? People are willing to pay more for that.

Dr. Jones: Yes. And so, and this is not to be snobby or anything, but you know, there are a lot of coaches out.

right. Some of them I am able to fuse the two, like I have a solid educational background right from highly accredited institutions. And then I also have street credit on these social media street

and I feel like that makes me more marketable, . And then I read, so like any book you tell me, I’ve, I’ve read it already. I’ve studied it, I’ve dissected it. So I am able to fuse those together, which is. Unusual creature, right? Cause either you are this or you’re that in most cases, but to be both, you know, it just changes who you know.

So I can relate to so many people that other people can’t relate to, you know? And that goes on either level.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. And now that you’ve taken down the walls of no new friends, now you can step into those relationships and share who you. Yes, with with a level of vulnerability and freedom that you were not doing before.

So it’s almost like you’re allowing the world to enjoy.

Dr. Jones: Who you are. Who, how? My authentic self. Which is your authentic self. Yes. Which is a very, very good point because, you know, especially being in corporate, I started to really think into depression because I had started to kind of lose sight of who I was.

In my mind I thought, I was gonna go up the corporate ladder and end up as cno and like I was gonna play their game until I got in there. Then I was gonna let other people in. That was my plan. But I got played because in the process of playing their game, I played myself cuz I started to lose my identity in that process.

And so through therapy. and you know, through just life, I can reflect back on that and like, wow, like, you know, now I’m in a place where I make so much more, I’m not dedicated to anybody’s clock, but my own. And I’m me. Like what you see is what you get. The imperfect me, the, you know, girl from the hood, me.

If I need to pull out my credentials, I can me, but I don’t really do that anyway. Because that doesn’t define me, you. So it, it’s, yeah, you’re right though.

Sandra Pagenta: I love that. And I love that you are able to be, again, because one of the things I was talking about on my podcast is just realizing you’re the only you.

You’re the only Dr. Jones that’s just like you. And so I really want more nurses to embrace the fact that like you were made for something special. There’s something you only you can do that no one else can, and to live your whole. Never stepping and moving into that purpose, man. You don’t wanna live your life with regret.

Yeah. So just try it and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But at least you don’t look back and go, dang, I wish I would’ve given that a shot. It’s too late. Yeah, it’s never too late. But, Start today. Plant the seeds today.

Dr. Jones: That’s what I always say. I love that you say that cuz one thing I I say to my clients all the time is like, once you realize you are the secret sauce, you’re not worried about nothing else.

A lot of times I’ll get client, but what if somebody’s steal my idea? Nobody can. They can steal the concept of your idea, but you come along with that idea and so you’re the secret sauce. And so once you free yourself of all that and focus on the people who you can help and. N you’re, you’re gonna be unstoppable because you are.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah. That’s so good. That’s so good. So I wanted to ask you this question, and I know I gotta, I’m completely throwing all these at you, but I really think you’re gonna be able to knock this out. I loved it. . I wanna know what aspect of business, cause we learned so many skills in nursing. And I think a lot of them are translatable.

You know, like delegation implementation interventions will assess and monitor. I mean that’s a business, right? All you do is assess and monitor, that’s not working. Gotta switch it up like we do all that, right? We learn that stuff in nursing school.

So like what would you like, again, explain that, like what do you find that has been a nursing skill that has helped translate. The, the business world to you that you’ve been like, man, this has been really, really helpful. And then one thing, and this’ll be kind of my, my, you know, my little caveat that has been difficult and challenging you to, for you to master that you really had to work hard on.

So one thing that your nursing skills have really helped you with, and one thing you’re like, I had no idea. I just had to just go to the Better Business Bureau, get someone to help me. Where, where, where is that kind of, that di dichotomy? In your business?

Dr. Jones: In business journey. Okay. I’ll give you two just because I’m in aesthetics and, okay.

So one can apply no matter if you are starting a teacher business or if you’re starting aesthetic business, which is ad pi. It’s true. Assess, diagnose. You’re planning, you’re implementing, you’re evaluating. This is what you do in your business. Okay? Here’s a problem. Assess, right? What is the problem?

Diagnose, what am I gonna do about the problem plan? Okay? Then do the thing. Evaluate. Did it work? Yes. No, go back, . That’s it. And that’s it. Every business, it doesn’t have to be aesthetics. It could be, like I said, T-shirt, business, home health, business, whatever. You have problems every single day. Whether they’re smaller or larger, and you can literally use that at pi.

Now the second thing is your skills. So we as nurses have, especially if we worked at the bedside, we have impeccable you know, science, typically based clinical skills that we can leverage in like your, our aesthetic practice Now, And it also prepares us for like that customer service aspect because we wanna make sure we treat our patients.

Yes, if there is a cash paying business, and yes, it’s elective and yes, most people are healthy and all that, but you still gotta treat them well. Right? So all of that helps so much in business. Okay. That you’re taking over, the challenge comes in, which is the next part of your question. Having the confidence enough to believe that we are capable of doing it.

We don’t have the ability to go to that seasoned nurse and say, Hey, what would you do? This patient such and such? What would you do about that? Like, what do you think? You know? And then you guys come up. Together and kind of talk about it and then be like, all right, yeah, I think I’m gonna go with that.

You know, how you, you know, and then you may have, be able to ask a couple of nurses like, you know, cuz it’s never really black and white as much as they try to make it standardized. We know nursing is not black and white. This patient is doing fine with a 98 over 60 and the next patient, 98 over 60 is, can’t barely stand up.

You know what I’m saying? And it’s dizzy, so it just depends. And so you don’t have that, so you do have to have a level of confidence. As an entrepreneur because you have to make the decisions. Now, the beauty in it is. I’m not in the hospital. My patients are healthy, and so nobody’s gonna die on me unless they have an allergic reaction, which I have still yet to see the research that anyone has died from an allergic reaction, but it’s still a possibility, right?

We just never know. Sure. But at the same time, you, so, because generally speaking, your clients are generally healthy and you have an ability to say, no, I don’t wanna take this patient. I don’t feel comfortable with taking you, you look horrible, go to the doctor. I’m not, I give you any ivy hydration. Go to your primary medical doctor.

You know, so you have the ability to do that. It’s just, Being able to have the confidence, right? That I think comes with experience, that you know what you’re doing and then in the times that you don’t, having a connection or a resource or someone who you can, you know, contact, like I have a network of aesthetic nurses that I can call like, hey, What do you think about this?

Like this client such and such, you know, so being able to establish that network as well to help you in those times where you’re like, unsure if you should treat them with this or you know, whatever. So yeah, but they’re, that would be really good.

Sandra Pagenta: That’s, yeah, I think that’s gonna, I think that’s gonna be very helpful for sure.

And okay. I always like to ask this question and I always ask people that if you could go. To Dr. Jones before she was Dr. Jones. She’s a single mom. I think you said you’re a teenage mom. Were you single? I don’t know if you were single or not.

Dr. Jones: Teenage mom. Single teenage mom.

Sandra Pagenta: Single teenage mom. And you’re like struggling.

You’re getting, you’re getting going. You’re going to school. You’re starting to kind of figure this out. And I know you have a bachelor’s degree in public health, and so you’ve, you’ve just been like working and you can go back to tell her something. You would tell her, don’t you dare, don’t you dare forget this.

This is your lifeline. You hold onto this girl. Yes. Ride that wave all the way through. What would you tell her?

Dr. Jones: Start, don’t wait and try to appease everyone else. Not my mom, not my nobody, not my grandmother, not my friends. If it’s something that you are called to do, most likely, you know, and depending on your belief, it’s a higher power that’s calling you to do that.

Do it. You can learn as you go. I promise you. You can learn as you go. And so, I wish that I would not cause see in the process of me like working all those jobs and it was just me teeter tottering, like, you know, I knew I should have been entrepreneur a long time ago. I was afraid and I had to unpack. All of the money don’t grow on trees like all of these limiting beliefs that was given to me.

Thank you, mom and dad. You need benefits and the only way you can get ’em is working for someone, which is not true. You know? So all of those things I had to unpack and I wish I just would’ve had enough faith to know that I could figure it.

Sandra Pagenta: That’s the word that kept. Mm-hmm. . That’s the word that I was gonna throw in if you didn’t throw it in, is the faith part.

Right? Because it’s so interesting. It’s faith is the, is the, is the, is the evidence or believing what you cannot see, right? Mm-hmm. . So like, even though you can’t see it, I’m butchering that scripture, so god forgive,

Dr. Jones: but like, it’s the, it’s the fa it’s the belief way, oh God. Now I can’t say it. And things, the unseen.

The unseen, yes. Of the un uns. And so yes.

Sandra Pagenta: It’s the, it’s the believing. It’s a good thing he’s got Praise the Lord for grace. But you, you get, you get the point, right? It’s, it’s the, it’s the trusting in the things that you can’t see

Dr. Jones: the evidence of things that you cannot see. That’s faith. The, exactly.

Sandra Pagenta: That’s faith. And so a lot of people say that they have faith. And then when it, when it comes to being tested, you’re like, yeah, I got faith, but like, I’m gonna make sure I’m gonna keep this little perian thing over here cuz I don’t really know if I could, you know, you, you say these things, right? And so that has been something that has been really challenging and convicting to me, just to even hear you say, because again, like there’s different elements of my life that I’m just like, no, I, I wanna, I wanna keep that stuff like, that stuff is good to have in my little pocket, so I make sure, and again, that’s what we’re saying, don’t just completely set yourself.

Free, but at the same time, take those steps in faith to go, I’m gonna let this go. I think I’m ready, I’m ready to go ahead and move it forward. And that, moving forward, that faith act I really do. I think we, I think we look back on those moments and I feel like every single story has been an inspiring journey of like, And I just fell.

I just like trust fault and I didn’t, I didn’t hit the ground like I was. Okay.

Dr. Jones: And so people have to be to understand. There’s a couple things I, of tools that I have, and I call it my toolkit as an entrepreneur. One is if it doesn’t scare. Then I’m not doing something right. I should be scared and I should be scared.

Often when it comes to making decisions that could get me to the next level. That’s one thing. The second thing is eat a hundred percent of the time that I have tried things, whether they went the way I wanted to go or the opposite way, I have learned and I have become better as an entrepreneur. So I always look forward to that.

I don’t know if it’s gonna go the way I want it. Either way, I’m gonna be better as an entrepreneur. That’s the second thing. And the third thing is I have to be willing to let go of my old self because if I was capable of getting me there, I would be there already. And so a lot of people are. Holding on to their old self and your old self is not gonna get you there.

Sandra Pagenta: Yes, that is so good. Oh my gosh, girl, you gotta write that down. You gotta like, you gotta trademark that. you’ve got to figure out what about you is holding you back and to drop that. It’s whatever that is, can’t do that no more.

Dr. Jones: You gotta choose. Do you want the person you are now or do you want the goal that you have set for yourself?

You can’t have. It’s good they don’t exist in’s so good. Good.

Sandra Pagenta: Okay, I found the verse now. Faith is the substance of things. Hope for the evidence of things not seeing. We got, we gotta, we gotta quote it right here. We it right here on the Dr. Durst podcast. Now . So for the, okay, that was actually my last question.

So I’m gonna do rapid fire and I don’t think we could ever end in anything better than scripture. So Keepers 11 one. Guys, for those who wanna look, That is what we are quoting and that is what we hold onto. And again, that is just truth, right? Like I am so about talking about truth because the world needs more of it and we, I don’t need to keep you my opinion.

Like my opinion. Yeah, it’s okay. But like the Bible is true. And so you can just take it up with the big man, you don’t like it. And so again, . Just moving in that faith is something that I wanna encourage more nurses to do. And if you don’t have our common faith, that’s okay. Whatever that is, whatever it is, you put your, it’s fine.

You know your heart into, I believe that there are rules that govern this, this world. They are set rules. You plant a seed, an orange seed, it takes six months to get an orange little, an orange tree. You, you know, you have a baby. It takes nine months to grow a baby. There are just rules. that the world lives by, that the universe is governed by.

So even if you’re like, I don’t believe in that. Okay, that’s okay. I mean, we love you. We’re glad you’re here. But I’m gonna tell you something. These rules, they exist. So just trust in them. And then again, whatever that looks like as far as you working out your faith, and we’re here, we’re just glad you’re here.

Dr. Jones: To the principles. If you don’t have the face, you need to anchor into something’s.

Sandra Pagenta: It perfectly said, anchor to the principles. If you don’t have the faith, that’s perfect. Well said. Oh, Dr. Jones, just spitting truth. Last part of the interview is the rapid fire questions. Are you ready? Yes, I’m ready. Okay. Ooh, I wanna know this.

What was your very first job ever?

Dr. Jones: My seas. Candy . What? And I do learn from Seas Candies. Yes. I, I worked at Seas Candies in high school and I learned customer service that I still use .

Sandra Pagenta: Oh that’s awesome. So you’re gonna give a book to somebody. What book is it?

Dr. Jones: It depends on where they are in their entrepreneur journey.

If they’re very new, like have nothing, like just wanna do it. And the seed is there, but they haven’t actually cultivated it yet. Read Rachel Rogers. We should all be millionaires.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh, I’ve heard that book. I need to read it.

Dr. Jones: That’s the, oh, that’s the old, that’s the like, here’s your permission sis. Go get what’s yours.

That’s what that book is about.

Sandra Pagenta: And so I wanna know this because you’re an avid reader. Yeah. What’s your favorite subject to read?

Dr. Jones: I like to read entrepreneurship right now, and right now I’m at the part where it’s marketing and branding. So the books I’m reading right now is Alex Hermo is like my favorite person right now because he is big on offers and he just has this amazing mind and ability to like unpack like branding and marketing and like, What he could have did differently.

He’s very young. He’s only in his thirties, so I’m reading his book Hunt hundred million offers and I’m actually applying it to my offers. And I’m also reading Dan Kennedy his marketing no BS marketing book, which is really good.

Sandra Pagenta: Oh my. I feel like I just wanna like hang around you all the time. I just wanna know what you’re doing.

Like tell me what you’re doing. Can I come with you? That’s how I feel. You’re just so inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing. Everything.

Dr. Jones: Yeah. Absolutely. And one last book, like, you know the Richest Man in Babylon is another amazing one. That book is Fan.

Sandra Pagenta: Fantastic. I have read that book. It’s life changing.

Dr. Jones: Yeah, it’s life change. You guys, I could go on it. Listen, here’s the thing, I’m gonna tell this to your readers. Another Jim, I’m about to drop on Y’all. Don’t use the excuse that you don’t have the money because Audible is $14. And you can get five credits and you can listen to audible books. You can purchase books.

We have to change the narrative that we don’t have the money and start to say and be honest with ourself and say that it’s not a priority. Only you determine what’s the priority for you. Yeah, seriously. Once shift in my priorities, my life and my bank account shifted in a positive.

Sandra Pagenta: Of course, yes. I’m even gonna drop a bigger.

Not even really bigger, cheaper. Libby, the app Libby is a free app from the library. It is the library audio books you can rent from the library for free. I will check that before I go and get a book on Audible because I’m like, wait, is it free? And you rent a book? You can have it for seven days and it’s a little stressful because you have to make sure you finish it in seven days.

I like Audible cause I can kinda like when I’m walking my toddler, I. Play it and you know, different things like that, but that’s even less of excuse. The book is free on Audible, I mean, I’m sorry, on Libby. So all you need is a library card. You type your library card into the app, it connects you with whatever library is nearest to you, and you get their whole inventory

Dr. Jones: I love it. Yeah, I’ve never heard it would be. I like that. Yeah, it’s fantastic. You know, you can go on YouTube. I started off just listening to YouTube, and that’s free too. Like, first of all, let’s just stop making excuses. Let’s start there because even $14, most of your followers are nurses. You guys come on.

Yeah.

Sandra Pagenta: Yeah, exactly. Oh, that’s so good. Thank you for your time today. Thank you for your energy. Thank you for your knowledge

Dr. Jones: thank you so, so much. Let me see. Is it pta? Dr. Pta, right?

Sandra Pagenta: It’s pta, yeah. Yeah. That’s good. Most people don’t get it on the first try. They’re like,

pta, you know, it’s so funny. I was prior. Prior to being pta. And I couldn’t wait to like, cuz they’re like, prior, how do you spell that? And I’m like, oh God, I can’t wait to marry somebody and like change my, and then I got on like a more, even more difficult last. ,

tell my listeners how they can find you.

Dr. Jones: Okay. You can find me. My main source of finding me is on Instagram. That’s my jam. I’m Cyu, S I D e P R E N E U R, underscore nurse. And you can also find me on YouTube, s cyu underscore rn. , those are the primary ways to reach me. I do have a website, dr kiana jones.com as well.

Sandra Pagenta: Perfect. And I’ll put all that in the show notes, guys. You can check her out, link to her all her, her social media sites, and you guys can, again, like I said, see what she’s offering, see if that’s something you’re interested in. And guys, you’ve seen her mind, you see how she works, you see what she’s about.

So yeah, sign up if you’re like, man, I wanna, I wanna take the plunge. But I need a little bit of help, so, yay. Yes. All righty. Thanks for coming on. Hi, everybody. .

Anyway, have a wonderful afternoon.

Dr. Jones: Thank you. I’m gonna hit, thank you so much for having me.