Sara Trammell, MD
Owner, Abilene Beauty Bus
Dr. Sara Trammell is a physician in Abilene, Texas. She’s a mom of three girls and wife of a private practice neurosurgeon. She’s also the self-titled boss lady and head bus driver of the Abilene Beauty Bus.
Dr. Sara started her business with one powerful purpose in mind: to help clients feel beautiful in the bodies that they’ve been given.
“It is by God’s grace that we all age, but I hope to help my clients do that confidently through the scientific advances of aesthetic medicine,” Dr. Sara says.
Sara Trammell, MD, is the owner of Abilene Beauty Bus. Her core values of honesty and kindness guide her aesthetic practice, where her team of highly trained professionals delivers positive results that help their clients feel beautiful and confident.
As Abilene Beauty Bus was growing, Dr. Sara knew she needed stronger systems and a long-term vision to take the business to the next level. So, she hired KLC Consulting to help her craft a business model, growth strategy, and team building plan to guide her to success.
Today, Dr. Sara is scaling her business through assets instead of hustle. She’s hired additional providers, created local partnerships with other businesses, and developed the necessary infrastructure to allow her to transition into a CEO role so her company can generate revenue even when she’s on vacation.
Kaeli has given me a great focus on my business. That has allowed me to designate specific time, not only each week but long-term, to work on the practice instead of just in it.
After working as a family physician, Dr. Sara transitioned into the aesthetics industry several years ago when a friend needed help with their hospital medspa. Four years into that role, Dr. Sara shifted gears and started her own business offering mobile/kitchen botox parties. She called it the Abilene Beauty Bus.
Although business and human resources are new to Dr. Sara, she enjoys the growth and learning opportunities that come along with owning a practice. Two and ½ years into her entrepreneurial journey, Dr. Sara now has a busy full-service, multi-location practice. She also has a rockstar team of three estheticians, a registered nurse, an office manager, and two medical assistants.
Today, Abilene Beauty Bus offers a full range of medical aesthetic procedures. The practice’s highly trained professionals deliver positive results in a unique and discretionary atmosphere.
“We’ve been very successful starting from scratch and building this practice,” Dr. Sara says.
In this case study, we’ll dive into Dr. Sara’s business model evolution, from mobile beauty bus to brick and mortar practice to multiple locations with a retail store front. Let’s go!
As a solo in-demand aesthetic service provider, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Dr. Sara to service that high level of demand at scale without burning the candle at both ends.
Although she was confident in her ability to manage the day-to-day operations of the business, Dr. Sara acknowledges that she wasn’t spending enough time creating long-term plans or evaluating why she and her team were making certain decisions.
She wanted to streamline Abilene Beauty Bus’s services, avoid offering monthly discounts and specials, and increase her revenue per procedure.
Dr. Sara also felt disconnected from her team because they didn’t work in the same office, and she wanted to address this feeling by streamlining internal communication and enhancing the overall client journey. She needed more staffing support, but was dragging her feet on bringing a medical assistant into the practice.
Dr. Sara knew she needed to link arms with a business advisor who could serve up some tough love, evaluating her systems and helping her tighten up her goals and plans.
She was seeking guidance on a few specific priorities: creating a VIP program for clients, hiring additional team members, adding more invasive procedures to her suite of services, and marketing those offers.
While Dr. Sara wanted to work with a business coach, she wasn’t looking for just any coach!
When an industry rep referred her to KLC Consulting, founder Kaeli Lindholm’s area of specialty in aesthetic medicine stood out to her.
Dr. Sara dove head first into KLC’s six-week intensive program. Since then, she’s participated in KLC’s Confidence to Scale and POP Aesthetic Leadership Academy programs.
“To work with somebody who has been in the industry in a variety of different ways is something I’ve been able to gain a lot of knowledge, information, and guidance from,” Dr. Sara says.
Working with Kaeli has helped Dr. Sara think beyond day-to-day operations and focus on the long-term vision for her business.
“You present Kaeli with a problem or an idea, and she always comes back at you with, “why?,” Dr. Sara says.
“Thinking through why I want to do something, why a patient isn’t happy, or why I’m not happy with something in my business has been a simple exercise, but something that Kaeli really holds you accountable to.”
In addition, Kaeli’s insight around creating and marketing new offerings has been invaluable to Dr. Sara. Kaeli has helped identify her most valuable buyers and focus on marketing to this audience segment. This has enabled Abilene Beauty Bus to share a more sophisticated message to advertise and increase sales of invasive procedures.
“Having not gone to business school or learned marketing in medical school, I have really benefited from Kaeli’s knowledge,” Dr. Sara says.
Working with Kaeli has also helped Dr. Sara step further into her role as a CEO and make critical hiring decisions — like bringing several key team members on board to help free up her time.
“I’ve been more than pleased with the team members we’ve hired and the roles they’re playing,” Dr. Sara says.
“Thanks to Kaeli’s great advice, I felt confident in the hiring process.”
Dr. Sara has made an empowered and lasting transformation since working with KLC Consulting. “It’s the best decision I’ve ever made for my business,” she says.
She’s leveled up her cash reserves and her impact in the world, and now has the luxury of sweet freedom in her business and life — thanks to a strong team that she’s grown from three to seven profit-producing employees.
Working with Kaeli has helped Dr. Sara scale her business through assets instead of hustle, and develop the necessary infrastructure to allow her to fully own her role as a CEO. This has enabled her to position the Abilene Beauty Bus brand as a preeminent leader in the Abilene market, and build her own industry thought leadership.
Abilene Beauty Bus has even expanded locations with seamless disruption, growing from a mobile beauty bus to a brick and mortar practice to multiple locations with a retail store front!
By leveling up her mindset around what it takes to grow with systems, structure, and team, Dr. Sara is ready to capitalize on even greater demand for her expert work.
She’s expanding to new markets, growing her brand, and multiplying her income.
And, she’s prepared to face the challenges that come with growth head on, in alignment with her core values of honesty and kindness — without grinding down her energy and freedom.
