“I’m on track for my best January ever—should I finally add that laser specialist?”
Dear Dangerously in Love with Finance,
My med spa is on track for its best January ever. We’re at $1.2M annually, and I’ve been wanting to add a dedicated laser specialist so my injectors can stop splitting their time. January proved the demand is there, our body contouring and laser services had a three-week waitlist. My gut says it’s time. Is it?
Signed,
—Ready to Specialize in Charlotte
Dear Ready to Specialize,
Your gut isn’t wrong. But January is the worst possible month to trust it.
That three-week waitlist? It’s built on New Year’s resolution clients, holiday gift card redemptions, and everyone who swore they’d finally deal with stubborn fat before summer. By mid-February, half may ghost you and the other half may not rebook until fall.
You’re not wrong about the opportunity. You’re wrong about the timing of this medical spa hiring decision.
What adding a laser specialist actually costs your med spa
You’re not just adding salary. You’re adding a specialized hire who expects to stay busy, and who may leave for a competitor if they’re not.
That overhead hits your med spa payroll every single month, whether your laser room is booked or empty.
And if your injectors were squeezing in laser services between Botox appointments, you don’t actually know what your demand is. You’ve never built capacity around that service, you’ve just been fitting it in wherever there’s a gap. That waitlist isn’t proof of demand. It’s what happens when you don’t have a system for scheduling, marketing, or rebooking that service line on its own.
The med spa staffing question you should be asking
Your January waitlist tells you one thing: you had capacity constraints during your peak month.
It tells you nothing about March, or July. Or the random Tuesday in October when your laser room sits empty.
Before you hire, answer this: What was your laser and body contouring utilization rate in your three slowest months last year? If you can’t answer that immediately, you’re not ready for this decision.
What the right hire looks like for a $1M+ medical spa
At your revenue level, a dedicated body contouring specialist or laser technician makes sense, but only if slower months support 60-70% utilization. Otherwise you’re subsidizing an empty treatment room eight months a year to solve a six-week capacity problem.
Here’s what I’d want to see before approving this hire as part of your med spa financial planning:
Pull your body contouring and laser revenue by month for the last two years. Calculate what percentage of that specialist’s fully-loaded cost each month would cover. If your slow months can cover 60% and your peak months create genuine overflow, you’ve got a real case. If February through April can barely cover 40%, you’ve got a January fantasy.
The cash flow strategy that actually works
Bank half of January’s excess, you’ll need it.
Rent the capacity before you own it. Bring in a contract specialist two days a week through Q1. See what demand looks like once the resolution crowd disappears.
Track every turned-away client and every rebooking request for the next 90 days. Real demand shows up in March when January demand evaporates.
Build the rebooking system before you build the payroll. If you’re hiring a specialist, you need a system that keeps that room booked in March, not just January overflow.
Mindful Thoughts
You probably do need this hire! A $1.2M medical spa with maxed-out injectors juggling laser services is leaving money on the table and burning out your best providers.
But January is the month that convinces practice owners to add significant overhead based on five weeks of data. February is the month that makes them regret it.
Make this decision in April. By then you’ll know if Q1 demand held or if January lied to you like she does to everyone else.
Seasonal cash flow is what kills med spa expansion plans, not lack of demand, but mistiming the hire. The smart move isn’t saying no to growth. It’s timing that growth to your actual revenue pattern, not your best month’s fantasy.
Lots of Love, Coffee and Chocolate,
Dangerously in Love with Finance
We provide fractional CFO services for medical spas and wellness practices doing $1M+ in annual revenue.
If you’re navigating hiring decisions, cash flow planning, or figuring out when to expand, we help you make those calls based on real numbers, not January optimism.
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