Dr. Victoria Givens is a facial plastic surgeon in private practice in Austin, TX.
She was on her collegiate swim team and has earned several honors for athletic and academic excellence.
She’s a member of several medical societies including AAFPS and speaks and publishes around the world on her nasal and facial rejuvenation research.
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Transcript:
Beauty and the Biz
Episode 83: Interview with Victoria Given, MD
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Hello everyone, welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we talk about the business and marketing side of plastic surgery. I’m your host Catherine Maley, author of Your Aesthetic Practice: What Your Patients Are Saying, and consultant to plastic surgeons to get them more patients and more profits. We have a special guest today, her name is Dr. Victoria Givens (https://www.GivensMD.com/). She’s a facial plastic surgeon in private practice in Austin, Texas. However, she was raised in Houma, Louisiana. She was a collegiate athlete in the sport of swimming and earned several honors for athletic and academic excellence. She’s a member of several medical societies, including the American Academy Of Facial And Reconstructive Surgery, and speaks and publishes around the world on her measle and facial rejuvenation research. Dr. Givens, I welcome you to Beauty and the Biz.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here today.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Sure, let’s start with the culture shock of moving from Houma, Louisiana to Austin, Texas. How different are the two?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
They’re both Southern and that’s a good compass. But moving from Louisiana to Texas, it’s a little less humid, but still boiling and warm. it wasn’t too much of a culture shock. Houma is a salt-of-the-earth town and it’s welcoming. I found the culture and the people of Austin to be similar which is nice.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
That’s good, I know a lot about Austin. I’ve spent several times there and it has more high-tech. But I’m from San Francisco in the Silicon Valley. I found people nice, but much more, family-driven, it had more like a mom and a dad and kids and a yard fence and I’m not used to. But it was lovely, I tell you the real estate there was fantastic. Living in Texas with the tax situation is way better than living here in California.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Yeah.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I see the benefits of Austin, Texas. It’s nice. Please tell the audience how long have you been in private practice?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I’ve been in private practice since September 1, 2020. I’ve been in practice for over four months now.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Unbelievable, you open a practice in the middle of COVID. Did you immediately jump into private practice? Or did you first take a swing at another practice? Or how’d you do?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I immediately went from fellowship, I finished at the end of June to the beginning of July and I went straight over to Texas, moved everything in, constructed the office, and then open September 1. I’ve always been extremely driven and motivated and always tried to learn everything I can. When the time came, I wanted to work for myself to be able to do my thing, be my boss. I decided pre-COVID, about December I wanted to go to Austin and open a private practice. I did some planning during the time, went and visited in February and found some locations then two weeks later, COVID hit. I have committed already to it and I went for it. I’ve been through a few challenges between February and September period. But I’ve made it through far. It’s been exciting and exhausting.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Good for you. You had never been to Austin before until you went there, were you Google searching where’s a good place to start practice?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I’ve been to Austin for a conference, during my residency, about four years ago. But I had spent no extended amount of time but one of my fellowship directors, one of the co-directors, Dr. Hamilton. We were operating one day, and I said look if you could start over, to do your private practice, no strings attached, where would you go? And he said he would either choose Charlotte or Austin, and I liked Austin a little better. It was closer to home and I decided on Austin.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
What did he say was great about Austin and or what was he looking at making his choice?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
He knew I wanted to do mostly cosmetics I do take some insurance but I want to do like 95 percent cosmetic work. To do you need for lack of a better word dispensable income and Austin, if you do your research and look at the map, at least pre-COVID, it was two times the national average, as far as employer rate and hiring. The economy was going through the roof. There are tons of people moving down, there are a lot of enormous establishments were moving down there. It’s like an ideal place to go and it wasn’t New Orleans if you’ll notice their expansion around the city, but not in the city, you’re in a bowl. Whereas in Austin, Texas, you’re able to expand out widely people can grow in the city.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I know when I was in Austin; I used to spend more time there, let’s say for two or three years ago, and it was nice, it was spotless where I was, the suburbs were spotless. However, the airport was small and the transportations not terrific. Their infrastructure is not there yet and I think half of the Californian move to Austin.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Yeah, sure.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
..or, that’s all I’m hearing everyone that’s leaving California. I keep thinking, should I be going somewhere, should I leave, but I don’t have to get it because I’m not a billionaire, but you’re getting more Californians there. I think you better step up and, work on the traffic issues and the infrastructure, there was no public transportation I ever saw. It’s going to have some growing.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Even though things have opened back up, and there’s some traffic in it, I remember when I came down in February to look; it was wild, wild traffic and traffic time. And, there’s still some traffic, but it’s not how it was before. And I don’t know how long it will stay exactly like. Because with a lot of the tech companies and things, there probably is some ability to work from home for a semi-permanent amount of time, it will have to see but I agree. infrastructure is important in this city.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Yeah. Where was your fellowship?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
My fellowship was in Indianapolis, Indiana with Dr. Steven Perkins. It was amazing.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
You’re sitting in Indianapolis, but you’re building a practice? Did you build it out before you arrived?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
No, I don’t have my set one building, I was looking at one specific area, and with COVID, things were not moving as I had expected. I was falling around to see if any of the med spas needed some injectors. I got a call back from them, they’re not technically a med spa, it’s one building and there are five different offices in it, they all have a common reception area, but they’re all separate from each other, they’re all their entity, and they had an extra two office spaces, and we went back and forth. I told him, I had certain criteria I needed and would not be okay without, and they met all of those things. I pay rent on my office space but my rooms in my consul/office are built to what I want, I have a procedure room; I have my consult office room; I have my back door area, it’s in the share a reception area, but it’s in the best way, I can put it as the ladies and girls who work there, have their spots. You’re not crossing paths and I market myself as given spatial plastic surgery, it’s on the door, it’s on my building. it’s a unique situation but it’s been great, especially as a self-starter.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
You’re still your own thing but are you trying to feed off of the traffic that’s going through there is a point?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
We sometimes do it’s one of them, for example, there’s someone who does CoolSculpting there and another person who does Endermologie and radio-frequency micro-needling. They will often, refer because their client may come in and say I’m having, some heavy eyelid scan, do anyone and they’ll say, we have a facial plastic surgeon who’s around the corner, and it can go the same way for me if there I do all the neck up summary, there’s CoolSculpting they went on their belly or they know the back of their arms, I’m happy to refer over.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
That’s a great way because we’re going to talk about marketing in today’s world, how do you do? How do we go into our marketplace? But before we do, let’s think of business because I like to talk about business first and then marketing. About business, where do you do your surgeries?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
There is a couple of places because when I take some insurance there’s a hospital near where I live, in the south part of Austin, the St. Davids hospital. There are two surgery centers I do my insurance cases and then two other surgery centers are more privately owned I do and there’s one that’s a block over from my office. It’s close and the other one is to jump over the highway, it’s not far either.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
What about staff, did you hire anybody?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I initially hired two people, and they’re both part-time and I was upfront with them. When I was starting, I do a lot of things myself, but I’m in a surgery procedure, I need someone to answer the phone and there was my surgical coordinators, what I call in the front office manager, she’s amazing. She’s well-connected in Austin, she’s a joy to work with, and the patients love her. She handles everything: surgery, scheduling, and front office wise. I also have a nurse practitioner who I’ve hired, works part-time and I’m teaching her how to do some more of the aesthetic injections and things. Eventually, once I like how she does, I’ll probably be able to transition and let her do more while I’m busier with surgery. But she helps me a lot in the office if we’re, doing PRP and there need to be two people for a needle draw or an in-office procedure I need a second pair of hands for it works.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Gotcha, but you use the front desk people who are everybody who owns them, who’s paying them?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I pay my person. The people in the office do not share a front desk person per se.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Okay, it sounded like you did. Do you have your phone person? Oh, good. I was going to say could be a little tricky. If they’re answering phones for five people.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
The other girls in the office, they can take care of their clients themselves. They cook all their appointments through their cell phones and scheduling. They don’t have someone waiting in the front and mine, we have more remote phone capability. Which is nice because if we have to run out, it’s she can still answer the phone. But it works for us.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Gotcha, about equipment, did you have to invest in lasers?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
That’s like taking a second mortgage and where I’m new coming out. And I haven’t had a big pile of money to build upon. What I’ve done is there is one of the surgery centers I am affiliated with, it specifically has a cytomx laser I use. If I want to do a procedure, I do not have Morpheus or IPL lasers, which I’m excited to tell my patients, I’m happy to refer you to someone if they do, eventually, I will. But some procedures and things I do, I’m able to supplement. I have not bought any lasers yet. I didn’t feel like was a wise investment for being in COVID and starting.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I would agree with you although you have a good audience for those lasers because everyone that’s sudden damage there. That’s good. But I agree until I would say no by it, and they will come, I would do it the other way around. Make sure you have an audience for it first, and then presented when you can, but Gosh, would be a tough time. Yes, I agree with what you’re doing, your overhead far is pretty good.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
It’s low for where I’m located. To be honest, I’m in the prime central area in Boston you want to be and I couldn’t get her done probably better deal for my overhead, which is amazing.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
It’s one pearl, keeping it tight, don’t overspend. Because you don’t know where you’re going. How much have you gotten into the community? Are you getting connected because we are going to talk about marketing? How in the world do you enter this marketplace four months out trying in a new place you haven’t even lifted before? How do you do?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
It takes a lot of work, that’s for sure and Austin is difficult because there no billboards, if you’re driving in Austin you don’t know where you are, you would think on some streets it’s completely desolate and what it is their turn ends and then when you turn in there these big huge, facilities and then it’s difficult if people don’t know you in the city. My saving grace is the office coordinator I hired. She used to work for another plastic surgeon in the city. She had taken a break before I came on the scene and she was excited to do something part-time, she was well-connected. Also, my significant other and I have done a lot of brainstorming. I found early on, it’s great if you want to walk around and drop your business card and stuff off but I feel like for cosmetics, you have to have a personal connection and unless you can connect in a way, they’re not immediately come in. One thing I have done, a couple of things. One, I hired an excellent website and SEO team who I love, I have gotten a lot of my consults have come in and come on based on how my website looks, they think it’s beautiful, and they like how it’s written, it’s informative. I feel, I probably spent more money than many people did on. But was worth it, because I’m getting a good return.
The second thing was two other things. One other thing was, I know this is different for different states. And you can always do this, but my coordinator has a good amount of friends in the area where she lives. And we threw a Botox party, and we had probably about 15 to 16 people come and it was a hit. That’s a free time where you’re giving people information. But I helps to show it any way you can connect with something and sit down and have a two or three-minute conversation where you can build a level of trust or tell them, they’re more to come back in. Then the other thing which I teetered back and forth with because I didn’t want to do a lot of newspaper magazines. I didn’t feel was going to reach, I have done a commercial for the last, this is my second month in January on KView, which is one of the big news channels in Austin. I’ve got a fantastic return, for me with how I spent it if I could get one person to come in and sign up for surgery would cover the cost of what it was to run the commercial. And I’ve had to happen for us, two patients last month came in for it and signed up for surgery it doubled the amount I spent on it. It was worth it.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
What’s the format of the commercial, what’s the message, and who’s the audience.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I went for its 32nd commercial which you think is a short time. But, when you watch it play on the TV, you realize how fast everyone else is talking. it doesn’t seem like it. But there I may segue into another one at one point. But this one is a 32nd intro that allows me to talk for probably about 20 seconds, it shows different snippets of the inside of the office, me talking to a patient they can see an overview of who I am, how I sound, how they think I’ll treat them. I think it can go a long way with people. The other option I may segue into if I feel there’s a two-minute interview you can have, but I wanted to first prove who I am, what my offices, the brand is, and then get to know a bit more about me.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I think the commercials are a great idea and if they will let you I think it should grow legs, because it’s like your PR introductory video. One thing new cosmetic patients who don’t know what’s going on, if they see you on the website, they’re like, Who are you? What? That’s why everyone runs to social, we’re trying to figure out who is this person. If you show them your office, your philosophy, they’re much more apt to respond to. You being a woman I think is super helpful. Who’s your target market?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
My target market is anyone but my major target would be anyone from their 20s to 72 groups. It’s mostly going to be women, but I see men as there are different issues they have. You’re going to have younger what I call the free jubilation movement, meaning they’re in their 20s. They want to be prophylactic, and they don’t want any surgery yet. Do you have your Botox or fillers, your maintenance skincare or, you might have some minor surgeries like buccal, fat removal, or some, Rhinoplasty and things like that? Then you move to the, 40 to 70 age group, we’re getting into aging face and things like that. I feel you have those two main target groups. If you can get someone who’s in their younger, 20s 30s, they trust you and like what we’ve done. They’re going to stay with you throughout unless they move to a different city. My main target would be women between prime ages would be 30s 50s or 30s to 60s, a little younger, a little older. Also, some memes are thrown in there for different reasons.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
If you want my two cents in external marketing, I would pick a procedure or a patient and focus there because we’ve gotten inundated with marketing all we do as a consumer is we have an issue. All we do is look up and say who’s got the solution for me and if you can’t, it’s difficult to say oh, I’m a facial plastic surgeon I can help you with is pretty much hate your nose. It needs to be specific in today’s world. I would try to pick a procedure or have a target market. You’re also young, one issue you have is, your mother comes in saying, Have you ever done this before? Are you a doctor? Have you found it at all?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I have but if you have a consultation with me, you’re going to come out there knowing I said, I’m direct and blunt. I’m happy for them to ask questions they want but I’m not going to sit there and say, Oh, I’m new at it, I know what I’m doing, I know how to do it, and I get good results. If you’re worried about it if you think you need a second opinion. Absolutely. The last thing I want to do is operate on someone who is not 100%. My patients trust me to know I have good results. I think you have to go in there with a sense of education and competence and decide.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Do you wear a white lab coat by the way?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I don’t, I think it’s from being in the hospitals with EMC and always wearing them. I think they look great and sometimes I will, but I feel they get dirty because you’re always touching everyone. The sleeves are on something if you’re on a hospital bed, and it’s not my favorite thing to do. But I will if I feel like I need to, or if I have, sometimes I’ve gotten a call from a patient who scheduled or had a quick trauma and I don’t have time to run home, I miss these clothes I wouldn’t normally wear to work. I’ll throw one on.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Okay, I have noticed the trend seems to be the real surgeons don’t wear one and beat the other surgeons like the weekend surgeons do wear one. Then you wonder why the patients are confused, the consumers are confused. Like, who’s who? Yeah, that’s interesting watching one.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
It’s funny, too I don’t know if you’ve ever seen. I have a habit for consult days and everything you’re kind of just the nice, if you have some postdoc days, you’re coming from surgery, you’re running between two places, and you come in and your scrubs and they’re like, Oh, you look different.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
But you look different. I wrote a book called your aesthetic practice, what your patients are saying, and this was several years ago, and I asked them the question, What did you want your surgeon to be wearing during the consultation? And their answer was resoundingly the lab coat, there was more credible. They thought the suit and tie were a little too salesy. And they thought the scrubs were too scary.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
For me that’s start when I were private consult.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I don’t know, I’m two times have also changed much, everything that’s much more casual. But that’s an issue because then you may become their best friend, and they want to negotiate and they want a little extra to have you found at all.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I tried to treat all my patients the same. Yes, it’s a little more difficult when those patients, whether you make friends with them. But they don’t take advantage, you’re always going to have something to do, and you have to, gently let them back down. But, yeah, I know what you’re talking about makes sense.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I’ve noticed it’s gotten a lot more casual. It used to be, you’re up here with God and the consumer was down here, sitting on your every word, and buying what you’re saying. Then they come with their research and their questions and their recommendations for what they think they should have done. What do you do when happens, when they show up? With the celebrity photos, or let me tell you what I need? How do you handle it?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
What I will do is I will listen, I say nothing, I let them get everything out then I go through. I’ll start after with their history, I’ll put them in front of a mirror, I do this with every single patient. And I tell them, I understand what you’re saying, this is what I see, this is how your anatomy is. Then I use my hands or I’ll point out a three-will, pullout mirror. This is a nose that can be forward and they can see from the side, or if I’m talking about their face and behind them, I’m manipulating them. I tell them this is what I can make. I have imaging software I often will do those images, sometimes they can’t stay because I have to manipulate and do everything and can take some time, but I will email them. I always encourage patients whether they scheduled surgery, or they’re thinking about surgery, they can come back for another second consult to re-review.
But if I have any inclination, as I said, I’m blunt. I tell them what I can do and what cannot be achieved. If they come back and they still want surgery, but they keep harping on this one singular issue, like they want this nostril way up here, I’m going to flat out tell them, I think we can do some things to fix your nose, but it doesn’t seem you’re going to be happy unless you fix the issue. And that’s not possible for me to do, I’m happy for you to go seek a second opinion from somewhere else but I cannot fix it. It’s hard being a new surgeon because you want to have a patient base, you want to operate and you need money. It’s hard sometimes to say no, but it’s easier than having an upset patient after the surgery for multiple years is not going to be happy. And can, say you didn’t do what you’re supposed to do or say you messed up their face. I’ve learned from watching some of my predecessors, sometimes it’s better to say no, even if you don’t want to.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I did a podcast with a doctor on the east coast. And he wrote a book on The Feel You Can’t Make These People Happy, especially Rhinoplasty. He said, he looked at this and dissected, most people are full of shame. And the shame is being directed to the nose, and around their third Rhinoplasty, and that’s a slippery slope, isn’t it? And by the way, you’re you are surrounded by some pretty big heavy hitters in your area? How did you enter the marketplace? Did you worry about the price? Are you trying to come in less? Are you trying to match it? How are you handling pricing competition?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Sure, I stay competitive and I may be on the lower end of some of the highest prices, I don’t want to be the highest, I don’t need to be the lowest. I understand I’m the new person coming into town. I will say on certain procedures, I’m as good as other people who do them and it’s fine if the person doesn’t think, our patient doesn’t think. But I never want to be the highest. I also don’t want to be a lowball and make it sound like I don’t know what I’m doing either. I try to gauge it competitively, to others, and try to do exactly.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
What I tell a lot of the newer people when they’ll say to me, what’s one thing I should do to grow my practice? And the answer is, there’s no one thing, you better be doing all of it. You better have a lot of plates in the air however the saying goes. There are two things, specifically, more photos and more reviews. I think social proof has become important due to us being all over the place. We all have to be transparent, you poor surgeons have to be surgeons, marketers, the manager, the visionary, and the leader. How are you handling your branding? Your website’s lovely but people have to get to your website and it takes a long time; it takes several months for SEO to kick in, if at all. It’s also because of the competitive nature of your area. What is your branding? Or where are you trying to go with your vision?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I think my biggest thing was my website team, is also a huge SEO and they get results and I love them. Was my biggest thing because I don’t have any other way to grow other than that. There are some other things but that’s a main natural way to go. Brand-wise, I market myself as funny as most facial plastic surgeons do boutique state-of-the-art once-in-a-lifetime experience. My big thing is, especially me being new and not having 1000s of patients, I can be a little more personable, a little more available. Personal care and touch are how I handle, as far as the future for my branding, I look to the future, but when you think of things like COVID, you have all these plans and everything blows up. I think in moderate long-term, but a little more short-term, I’m trying to make sure I keep establishment I have continued to grow it. I think will come with time, once I have more patience than, I expand or go to a bigger office if I need it but I’m able to do a lot of things in what I’ve been given.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Where do you fit in with social media?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Sure, I have an Instagram, I have a YouTube, I do IGTV, I have a Facebook, a lot of them are connected. I do post videos, photos, and things but it is going to take some time to grow. I have many people from Louisiana or Indiana who follow me, but I’m new to Texas. I think it is helpful once you get people to drive into the area but until then, it’s a focus. I think it’s a little more important to try to get out and meet people I can’t get in the office.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
How much time do you spend on social media in a day or a week?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I’m pre-plan on Sundays a lot of times, if I know I’m going to, I’m a little OCD. I have a little calendar of certain things I want or sets a picture. I have two apps, I have a video leap app that helps me to edit a video pretty darn quickly. Then, I have the Canva app I use for photos and things. This helps with some of them, if you have bad lighting in a photo, it helps with some of those filters. But I probably say on Sundays, I sit down, and I will either post two or three times a week. I know some people post every single day and some people do more than. It’s not for me I don’t feel I need to, if I need to get to the point I would probably hire a younger person in college who wants a little internship. But I would spend a solid hour and a half on Sundays, putting everything together. I have my alarm set at 1 pm, I know people use later and Hootsuite. But I must find it easier, grab my alarm set, upload it and email what I want to be written and I upload and it’s done.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
The Botox parties, have you been good because the way I envisioned it for you is you have these 15 women face to face with them. I know you’re probably a gentle injector. Hopefully, they didn’t get bruising, it was a lovely experience and you need those 15 to tell their friends. There was an old shampoo commercial, those two told those two and then they totaled till tomorrow. If there is some way, you could grow that’s an asset there. You started with 15 and you ended up with hopefully 150, do you have any? Like, are you planning thing?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I am there are a couple of girls from the party. And then I also I did a grand opening, okay, back in October, and I had some raffles and giveaways and one of them was a Botox party. And the person is also planning, it’s been a little difficult with COVID. And everything until this past month, and like some people wanted to wait until the new year. I have some things in the works. We’re trying to, they have to pick a date that works for them.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
For sure, gosh, kudos to you for growing this during generally let alone with COVID, you have a lot going against you. But the good news is, you are going to be proud of yourself when you pull this off.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Yes.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Let’s talk about mindset for a second because we talk about business, we talk about marketing. Then we talk about mindset. how are you staying optimistic, jazzed, enthusiastic? Do you read or watch anything in particular?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I take it one day at a time, some days are a little better than others. I always even if I get aggravated, I have to remember how thankful I am because I would say, after going through residency and fellowship was a breeze compared to residency but you’re finally getting to do like, I’m talking to myself, I’m finally getting to do what I’ve always wanted to do. And even when I get flustered, or, I feel there’s a little fire I’ve put out every day, because, in med school and residency fellowship, you’re not taught about the business and domain. You’re learning as you go in some aspects and it can frustrate or time-consuming. You thought you had a couple of hours to handle this and something else popped up. I think taking one day at a time, knowing you can do much, you can control the controllable and it’s always going to be there the next day. You remember you have to put it down during the day, you cannot do it from 6 am till 6 am the next morning you’re going to go crazy. I try to take some time off after dinner and, close the computer, watch some TV, relax. Unfortunately, with our EMC oral boards, we were supposed to take last March, they got canceled a week and a half before they’re in February. I’m starting to re-study for them. I don’t get to do as much pleasure reading as I’d like, but I try to take at least one day of the weekend to do something that is, not medical related. It refreshes you, even though you feel you should do it all the time.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Are you still swimming?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I have burned out after college. I’ve had not, but I joined a gym close to my house that has a pool. I’m excited it’s a little cold during the morning I don’t go, but I think when it warms up again I will.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I wonder how much of your drive came from your days of being an athlete.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Probably all women must have a lot of time commitment, especially in college you’re working, you’re swimming twice a day and then you have your way to run, you’re probably working at about seven hours a day. And I think if you’re able to, I get a lot of my focus drive and discipline from that. I’m a focused person, and I go for what I want, it’s a combination, but swimming has helped me throughout my life to set and discipline myself along the way. Persevere is probably the biggest thing.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Are there any mentors or authors you follow are YouTube, people you follow to keep you motivated?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
I don’t know about YouTube but some people in my life there are certain faculty members during my EMT residency, my fellowship director for facial plastics. And then honestly, my swim coach growing up, was a second dad to me. He since passed away, but, I’ve had a good support system, from friends and family around me. I haven’t had to look to YouTube or social media or, TV to help me harness or look up to something, which is nice.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
I think you had much good stuff happen early on; you learn discipline early.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Yes.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
And you didn’t have to learn it later, you’re still in the middle of it, but four months in, what’s one big mistake you made and you learn from early on, you’re going to be in better shape as you move on?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Yeah, this wasn’t a dire mistake but it was a mistake. I was doing a treatment on a patient and I thought it was a certain price. It was way under what the price was, it was like 50% off. This was within my first couple of weeks of starting. For most people, if you’ve been in practice, yes, you’re not happy they were charged half off, but for me starting, I was like, Oh my god, was half my income went away. I learned and it was in the moment, I should have looked at the patient said, let me be back, let me go check this price I don’t know it offhand. I should have stopped and done but I think I was excited to get it going. I didn’t want to make any mistakes on wanting to look good in front of the patient, I sucked it up and was like, yep, that’s the price and when she left, I looked I was like, Oh, I made a huge mistake. It’s nothing dire but was something I learned from you need to take a step back. Give yourself a thought and then come back.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Hopefully, she doesn’t come back for more at the same price and she didn’t tell all her friends why did I get a new deal? It is hard to go up from there?
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Yes.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
All right. How can people learn more about you what I know your website is Dr.Givens.com,
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
It’s GivensMD.com
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Sorry, GivensMD.com
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
GivensMD.com, otherwise, social media, Facebook, IGTV, YouTube, those are all Victoria.Givens.MD. I got to go with my name. And then if you need to a virtual concert consultation or schedule in-person or (737) 7878200 Givens Facial Plastic Surgery.
Catherine Maley, MBA:
Gotcha. Thank you much for being on beauty in the biz.
Dr. Victoria Givens, MD:
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
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