The Scalpel of Truth with Leisa Krauss

Two MedSpas pull the same revenue and sell for wildly different prices. The busiest, most owner-driven clinic often gets the lowest offer. This episode of The Scalpel of Truth breaks down what private equity is actually buying when it buys an aesthetic practice — and it isn't your lasers or last year's top line. EBITDA, recurring revenue, owner dependence, the factors that quietly tank a valuation, and the three-year runway it takes to be ready. The work that makes a practice worth buying is the same work that makes it worth owning.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Somewhere along the way, medical aesthetics confused luxury with liquidation — and the constant flash sales, Filler Fridays, and 20%-off banners that feel like survival are quietly training your patients to stop trusting your expertise and start trusting your discount calendar. This episode gets honest about why a packed schedule built on promotions can disguise a clinic that's actually dying, the difference between movement and momentum almost nobody gets right, and how discounting cannibalizes the exact memberships and packages it's supposed to feed. Because the moment your patient stops asking "what's best for me" and starts asking "what's on sale," you don't have a luxury relationship anymore — you've got retail dependency, and those are two very different things.The fix is structural, and it lives behind the curtain. Inside the members' edition: the revenue ladder your promotions should reinforce instead of undermine, the three buyers sitting in your database right now and how to reach all of them without slashing a single price, the buyer-frame calendar that hands you urgency for free, and the audit questions that tell you in seconds whether a promotion is building your clinic or bleeding it. If your memberships are flat and your patients are waiting for the next sale instead of booking the right treatment, this is the conversation you need.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

This episode takes on one of the most expensive blind spots in aesthetic medicine: the industry's obsession with acquiring new patients while treating its most loyal ones as background noise. The framework at the center of the hour is built around two lists every clinic should be maintaining — top spenders and top loyalists — and the case for why flattening them into a single VIP category quietly costs practices millions in lifetime value.From there the conversation moves into micro luxury: small, thoughtful gestures that carry outsized emotional weight without the price tag clinics assume luxury requires. Complimentary services paired with newer providers, vendor-supported gift bags, handwritten notes, surprise RepeatCash drops, and true appreciation events all get their place in the strategy, alongside a hard look at how clinics lose their best patients — not in a dramatic exit, but in a slow, quiet drift toward whoever made them feel more seen.For owners, managers, and providers, the hour works as a fast, honest audit of where loyalty is being earned and where it's being taken for granted, with action steps clinics can put in motion this week.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Most MedSpa memberships underperform for the same handful of reasons: they're priced wrong, positioned like discount clubs, and built without reference to the actual numbers the practice is generating. In this episode of The Scalpel of Truth, Leisa Krauss walks through the architecture of a membership that actually moves the needle — what a real recurring revenue model looks like, why the Beauty Bank strategy creates psychological safety around spending, and how to keep your à la carte pricing, packages, and memberships from cannibalizing each other.She gets specific on the metrics that matter (churn rates, redemption patterns, usage rates), the pricing sweet spots that hold up across thousands of practices, and the difference between a US-style three-to-six-month commitment and the longer Canadian model. She also explains why most clinics overcomplicate their offer menu, why luxury positioning lives or dies in the language your front desk uses, and what RepeatMD adds to the equation when paired with the right strategy.If you're heading into 2026 with a membership program that feels more like a coupon book than a revenue engine, this one is for you.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Here is a question worth sitting with: if you walked up to any member of your team right now and asked them to explain your membership program, what would they say? If the honest answer involves the phrase "I think we have something like that," this episode is for you.Leisa Krauss makes the case that undertrained teams are the single most common cause of inconsistent revenue in MedSpa practices — and that the clinics consistently growing, even in tough economic conditions, are the ones that long ago decided training was non-negotiable. She walks through ten practical tips: how often to train, whether to pay staff for it, what to do when someone misses a session, how to protect your investment with training agreements, and what every team member needs to be able to speak to fluently regardless of their role. Memberships, digital infrastructure, patient experience, referral programs, consultation flow — all of it.Solo providers are addressed directly. If you are running a practice alone, you are the team, and the standard is the same. This is a practical, no-patience-for-excuses framework for any clinic owner who has watched revenue stay inconsistent and is ready to understand why.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Your vendors are one of the most powerful — and most underused — growth levers in your practice. The problem isn't who you're working with. It's how you're showing up to those relationships. In this episode, Leisa Krauss breaks down exactly what it looks like to lead your vendor partnerships instead of being managed by them. She covers how to structure expectations from day one, how to negotiate beyond price for devices, injectables, and skincare, and how to build vendor alignment across your full patient journey. She also shares the conversation most owners are never willing to have: how to professionally exit a vendor relationship that isn't earning its place. If your vendor relationships have felt transactional, this episode is the reset.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

The patient has changed — and in this episode, Leisa Krauss makes the case that most clinics haven't caught up yet. The patient of 2026 is researched, selective, and choosing deliberately. They're not walking in on a whim. They're comparing, evaluating, and committing only to the clinic that makes them feel most confident — which means the old advantages of location and reputation aren't the moat they used to be.Leisa breaks down five non-negotiables that today's patients expect before they'll book, convert, or stay loyal — from the proof of results they need to see, to the seamless digital experience they expect, to something newer and more psychological: confidence before they ever walk through the door. This episode is a field report from the front lines of a shifting industry, and a clear-eyed look at where growth actually lives in 2026.Full breakdown available inside the Scalpel of Truth Inner Circle.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Leisa Krauss takes on one of the most expensive and least discussed problems in MedSpa ownership: the six-figure device that isn't producing. In this solo episode, she breaks down the internal reasons devices underperform, walks through a structured relaunch protocol covering team training, treatment bundling, membership strategy, and pricing alignment, and offers clear criteria for knowing when it's time to cut your losses. It's a strategy-dense episode built from three decades of hands-on clinical and consulting experience.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Clicks don't pay your bills, and vanity metrics don't build profit. In this episode, Leisa slices through the hype, the jargon, and the excuses to get honest about where marketing dollars actually go to die in medical aesthetics. She covers the red flags every clinic owner should watch for when vetting an agency, why the "just give it 90 days" line deserves a serious side-eye, and the 2026 marketing reality check that most practices aren't ready for.In the members-only portion, Leisa goes deep on the business-to-business referral framework that quietly outperforms flashy ad funnels, names the specific partnership categories winning in 2026, and delivers the hard truth about why no agency can save a practice that hasn't fixed its own systems first. If you're spending money on marketing of any kind, the Inner Circle deep dive could save you tens of thousands.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Lise is in no-messy-bun mode this month, making the case that “vanity” is about to have a rebrand in 2026: not ego, not insecurity, not “trying too hard,” but self-respect made visible—and a strategic lever for anyone selling confidence for a living. She breaks down how fast first impressions are formed, why “looking like you already won” changes how you’re received, and what polish signals to patients before you ever talk credentials.If you run a practice (or manage a team), this episode is a shot of cold water about standards: what your staff’s presentation communicates, why consistency matters, and how your offline presence needs to match your online brand. It’s direct, spicy, and designed to be replayed in the breakroom—if your breakroom can handle Lise’s vocabulary.VIP BonusInner Circle members get 15% off all workshops and consulting, including the Retail Rockstar and Kick-Ass Closer intensives. Leisa’s ready when you are.💎 Links You’ll Need (trust us):📄 Templates & Tools of the Gods: thebitchinbeautician.com (Use code BITCHIN15 to save)💼 Want to work with Leisa directly? Start here: vanityempireconsulting.com📱 Follow the brilliance (and the memes): @thebitchinbeautician on InstagramCheck out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today!Manage Your MembershipManage your accountAccess Your Personal Feeds

This episode isn’t here to teach you anything new. No frameworks. No lists. No tactical takedowns. It’s a pause. The kind you take when you look behind you and realize, oh… we actually did something this year.Leisa Krauss closes out 2025 by talking directly to the people who kept showing up. The ones who listened while driving to work, while charting late, while wondering if they were crazy for wanting more from their practice and themselves. This is a thank-you episode—but not the polite, polished kind. It’s the kind that comes from noticing who stayed, who implemented, who stopped tolerating things they used to excuse.There’s reflection here, but it’s not sentimental. 2025 was the year a lot of listeners stopped shrinking. Stopped negotiating with mediocrity. Stopped pretending accountability was optional or that energy didn’t matter. Not perfectly. Not all at once. But deliberately. And that shift—quiet, internal, sometimes uncomfortable—is what changed the outcomes. Leisa doesn’t walk through episode highlights so much as she circles the throughline: standards got higher. Decisions got cleaner. Leadership got louder, even when voices shook. Clinics became businesses. Owners became leaders. And a lot of people finally trusted themselves enough to make the call they’d been avoiding.This episode also makes space for what doesn’t get said enough—rest matters. Momentum isn’t built by grinding nonstop. Reflection is part of growth. And before charging into 2026, it’s worth acknowledging the ground already covered.To all, thank you for what you do to keep raising the bar for yourselves, your clinics, and each other.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today

Accountability doesn’t offend everyone—only the people hoping no one notices what they’re not doing. In this episode, Leisa Krauss breaks down why high achievers crave standards, why paycheck collectors resist them, and how accountability exposes the difference instantly. If you’re serious about building a profitable, high-performing practice in 2026, this conversation draws a line you can’t unsee.Not a member yet? No worries! Just head over to ScalpelOfTruth.com and sign up today! Get the full episodes in your own private, personal podcast feed all while ensuring this show continues to grow and thrive! Thank you!ScalpelOfTruth.com • Join Club Bitchacho for full episodes today!Check out our MedSpa Workshops and Trainings and schedule a discovery call today