Lead Your Business to New Heights with Cutting-Edge Strategies with Bref McHugh

Feeling like you’re constantly fighting to keep your business ahead in a fast-paced market? I’ve been there, and so has Bref McHugh, a seasoned entrepreneur who knows the struggles all too well. In this episode, Bref shares his journey from a small Irish grocery store to leading a seven-figure business. He reveals how innovative leadership and cutting-edge strategies, like AI and exceptional customer experiences, can help you stand out in today’s competitive landscape.

Bref also dives into real business challenges, from attracting and retaining top talent to the essential role of automation in customer engagement. Discover how a shared vision can drive team success and foster a thriving business environment.

Bref’s personal journey—overcoming setbacks, building resilience, and staying grounded—makes this episode truly inspiring. Packed with actionable insights, it will elevate your business and transform your leadership style. Join us for a conversation that's as practical as it is inspiring—you won’t want to miss it.

Bref McHugh's Essential Growth Guide!
If you're eager to take your business to the next level, I encourage you to grab a free copy of Bref McHugh's book at clinicgrower.com/free-book. It's packed with valuable insights and strategies to help you grow and succeed

Books Mentioned

• The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
• Never Lose Another Customer by Joey Coleman
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
• Relentless by Tim Grover
• Seductive Digital Marketing and Sales for Aesthetic Practices by Bref McHugh

Ready to Finish 2024 Strong?
Don’t wait until December to address your challenges. There's a few months left in 2024, now is the time to plan for a strong finish! Book a free strategy call with Dr. William Attaway to create a plan for impactful results. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Bref McHugh
• 4:01 The Evolution of Leadership and Building a Strong Foundation
• 8:35 The Changing Landscape of Marketing and Attracting Customers
• 13:27 Utilizing Reviews, Video Content, and AI in Marketing Strategies
• 22:00 Attracting the Best Staff
• 26:21 Building Win-Win Relationships
• 34:00 Taking Action and Overcoming Challenges
• 37:47 Unpacking Expertise for All
• 42:18 The Power of a Consistent Routine

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I'm excited today to have Bref McHugh on the podcast. Bref is a seasoned entrepreneur and growth marketing expert specializing in medical and aesthetic practices. With over two decades of experience, Bref has helped hundreds of clinics grow their patient base and scale their business in a constantly evolving industry. As the founder of Clinic Grower, Bref has not only built a successful seven-figure company, but has also become a trusted advisor to hundreds of clinics, helping them navigate the complexities of the digital age with innovative and impactful marketing strategies that connect more patients with practices. He leads a talented team of over 40 individuals serving medical and aesthetic practices across the US. Through innovation and by developing win-win relationships, bref is on a mission to help people look better, feel better and be better. Bref, I'm so glad you're here. Thanks for being on the show.

Bref McHugh: 1:01

William, super excited to get to chat with you today. It's always a fun and enlightening experience when I get to catch up with you, so I'm excited.

Intro / Outro: 1:10

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach, Dr William Attaway, and executive coach Dr.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:25

William Attaway, I would love to start with you sharing a bit of your story with our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader.

Bref McHugh: 1:39

How did you get started? Yeah, so great question. I think that, as I reflect that, I never remember being a kid saying I want to grow up to be a leader someday, but through, I think, natural progression and through growth, that leadership evolved as leadership kind of chose me. And so I look back to being a kid growing up in Ireland and my parents owned a grocery store. So as a young kid I was popping into that grocery store helping out. I could barely see above the counter but I was serving customers and really through osmosis or being there with my parents, just learning general customer service skills, seeing what it was like to run a business, and I think that that always carried through with me my parents' work ethic and I always then, as I was growing up and moving even through corporate jobs and having really good mentors through the way and then some managers.

Bref McHugh: 2:38

Maybe that I learned stuff from that was the way that I decided not to do things is that I started to understand leadership and what it meant, and as I really knew that I wanted to start my own business, it became really important for me to understand what worked and what didn't, and when I started ClinicRoad, for example, back in 2017, I started as a one-man band and I was doing everything creating campaigns, getting clients and then it comes time where you can't do it all yourself, and so having to grow a team is really when I started to understand the importance of becoming a leader and I think I've mentioned it before, I'm kind of a just-in-time guy when it comes to learning things.

Bref McHugh: 3:25

So when it came to leadership, I was really working ahead of that, understanding what it was like to hire my first team member, to hire my first 10, to partner with Brad as we grew our business and to really scale things. And so, in my opinion and my experience, it's a continual journey leadership. I don't think there's a finish line where you decide that, yes, I've become the leader and now I can move on to other things. It's a constant journey, and so I'm really excited to be on that journey now, and that's essentially how we first met was my journey, my ambition to become a better leader. So that's kind of how it started and that's where it is today. I'm all about being that 1% better every day, in every way, so I'm excited to reflect on how things started, how the evolution has been in my journey of leadership, and also to look forward and to project what the next 1, 3, 5, and 10 years will look like as well.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:24

It's so fascinating to hear the journeys of leaders and how so often they're unexpected. So often it's not something that 15, 20, 30 years ago they would have anticipated. And yet there's no such thing as a wasted experience. As you navigate through your story, everything has been a part of making you into the leader that you are today, and that clinic grower gets to benefit from what you do through clinic growers. Serving these practices is a constantly evolving field. Marketing is not standing still, particularly in our day with the rise of AI. So often this can be so intimidating to a small business owner, or even a large business owner, because they don't know what's working, what's not. How do I know where to start, what to do next when it comes to attracting new patients, new customers? What's working right?

Bref McHugh: 5:24

now? Yeah, such a good question. And you're right, it's what worked five years ago, or yesterday, as they would say, and what's working today is also very different than what's going to be working tomorrow. And so, whether it's patients or customers or clients, as business owners, we all understand that the lifeblood of your business is clients. Really, as a service-based business, it is those clients, those patients, that we serve in order to solve a problem right. And so, when it comes to our clientele, and even if we look at a lot of business categories in general, what we see working today has evolved quite a bit.

Bref McHugh: 6:08

When it comes to attracting new clients, and what we're seeing at Clinic Roar, is that the most important part really is and this will sometimes shock people that I speak with on calls is that it's not always the marketing. In fact, it's really that experience Number one, and when we work with practices, we do a lot more than just the marketing. I'll definitely answer that question on what's working to attract new customers and new patients, but ensuring that we've got that, as David Ogilvie would talk about, you know, with a great marketing won't solve a bad product, and so I love this stuff too, but we really got a, for example, william, I was talking to a practice a little bit earlier on today and this was a a medical aesthetics practice, a med spa, that wanted to speak with us and her schedule got busy. Long story short, we were speaking and the conversation it quickly turned to okay, you do, you guys do, what can you do for me? How much does it cost? And this particular lady had been on, as I found out, multiple calls with other marketing agencies and what happened was they were all telling her what she wanted to hear as far as yeah, we'll run the marketing campaigns and you'll get 50 new customers, 50 new patients in the first month. When I actually saw the current profile of the business, I told her what she needed to hear. The business didn't look good online. The Google business profile wasn't showing up well.

Bref McHugh: 7:37

So we really got to make sure that we're showing up well as far as business goes, as far as a brand, and that's really important to patients, especially when it comes to coming into a brick and mortar business. Amazing marketing and advertising to attract their attention and to get those leads and get those appointments scheduled is great, but unless that patient or that customer comes into the business, then it's really worthless. Patient or that customer comes into the business, then it's really worthless, and so that particular customer, that practice that I spoke with earlier, I gave them the strategy in order to get them over the hump that they needed to, which is to show up better, show them how to do it, introduce them as to how we could do it. So I think that's really important when it comes to getting customers is just to have a really good foundation. You've got to have a really strong foundation in place. It's got to be strong.

Bref McHugh: 8:26

As far as the business model, I recently did a webinar William, it seemed like it was recently, it was back in January. Actually it was a 2024 digital marketing plan and I went on to talk about the importance of goals and I discussed goals, of course, as well, and I think that is actually. This is almost the unsexy stuff of marketing and advertising is having those clear goals, the strategy and the plan in place, because marketing is going to be a fundamental and crucial component of that plan to grow your business. But it's about achieving those goals, and so that's typically the most important part of it and things I find lacking when speaking with prospects and I'll help them to create those plans. But also, too, I'm excited to answer your question, which is what's working today when it comes to attracting customers and clients and once you have those fundamental pillars in place, really, of having a sustainable business, having a good team, having a product that's really good or delivering a service, having a reputation it's things like reviews.

Bref McHugh: 9:27

Reviews are so important. This particular practice again a great example, the call was a few hours ago. They had 49 reviews. I think it was a 4.3 star on Google. So the strategy is they need to get more reviews and better reviews. They also guess what they need to look at their product and their service and speak to their customers so that they don't have those issues with getting bad reviews. Anybody can have a bad hair day and give you a bad review, but that piece right there. I could talk forever just about reviews because, again, when we're attracting new customers and patients, having really good reviews is essential. We have tools and techniques that we work with for practices to get them more reviews. Another if I was going to name two or three video Video is crucial today and it can be a challenge for a lot of businesses to do video for different levels of comfort or time or different reasons.

Bref McHugh: 10:20

But we're seeing we have been seeing the trend for years that patients and customers they've got to develop what I call KLT points know like and trust points to develop a rapport and a desire to come into your practice and if a customer or a patient hasn't been referred by somebody to say, you've got to go in and you've got to go see William, you've got to go see Bref, that's kind of a slam dunk referral.

Bref McHugh: 10:45

But when it comes to marketing we've got to be able to develop those kind of trust factors. Reviews are a really important part of that, but also leveraging video to help to tell a story, to make that connection with the patient or with the client, and using video from the aspect of educating clients in the marketplace so that you can give before you get, is really important. So that's another fundamental thing that we see being crucial today for marketing in order to ensure that there's good follow-up in place, that when customers or leads, when they're getting in touch, that their inquiries don't go unanswered or unresponded to or essentially lost In many cases. When we assess practices we found that 36% of all calls or leads in general go unresponded to. That can be missed calls at different hours of the day. Yeah, it's really interesting and that's why we offer a 24-7 appointment booking concierge service. But I would say those three are crucial the review piece, video and also that speed to lead component, which AI can really help with that 36%.

Bref McHugh: 11:59

Yeah.

Dr. William Attaway: 12:00

Yep. So every time I hear that kind of a stat. I'm just like a third of the people who are interested in your product or service and you don't follow up.

Bref McHugh: 12:11

It's when you break it down and hear the stats there, it's kind of scary, right.

Bref McHugh: 12:19

You know we work with businesses that want to grow, but when we assess and find out that, well, 36% of your calls, or sometimes less than that, are going unresponded or leads aren't being followed up with and as a business owner, the business owners don't always understand that because, in our case, the business owner is seeing patients or seeing clients a lot of the time, and so they rely on their business and their management and their team to make sure that those customers or patients are being followed up with.

Bref McHugh: 12:47

So it's amazing, it's widespread. It's also an interesting stat that 36% of all leads go unresponded to and only one in seven of customers will be followed up with more than once. So think about somebody gets in touch, the call is missed and somebody calls back and the customer the lead is unable to answer, and a lot of the time the business staff take the mindset of oh well, they're not interested, bang. So that's another problem that using good automation and AI in order to be able to auto-respond, to at least enable that conversation with the customer, to let them know that, guess what, you care, you responded, whether it's automation, or that actual phone call that our team, or hopefully their team, can respond to patients or clients, is really essential. Because with business, with a practice, it's really about that conversation right that lead, that web form inquiry that comes in for your business or that phone call. It's a conversation to find out how we, how you as the business owner, can help that prospect.

Dr. William Attaway: 13:56

You know it's so interesting that the things that you're sharing you know the reviews, right, the videos, the following up with leads, like none of these things are terribly complicated. I don't think anybody listening is going to say, well, I don't really understand why that's important. I mean, these are pretty simple to understand and yet what you're describing is that most business owners are not leveraging the simple tool.

Bref McHugh: 14:24

Yep, it's one of those things where, when you hear it and when they see it, for example, it's so simple. But there's really good reasons and challenges that business owners have, and we'll just pick the med spa or the cosmetic surgeon as the example. They're busy, they're growing a practice, their staffing can be a challenge for a lot of these practices Medical practices and med spas and still a lot of businesses they still come to terms with technology, with automation, and so there's still an element of catch-up on their side to really catch up to consumer behavior and to, really importantly, I think, expectations. When we look at reviews, for example, the patient of today I used to call it patient 2.0 a few years ago, but it's very much the patient of today now they have expectations, they are a customer.

Bref McHugh: 15:17

Patients for medical practices are customers, they have choices, the same as customers for any business. So again, we've got to make sure that we're showing up, that we're delivering value, that we're looking good, that we're conveying trust relative to reviews, relative to how we're engaging in those impressions that we're delivering for practices, and so it's again a challenge for a lot of those businesses because there's an element of playing catch up. But the truth also is that the businesses that are most successful and the practices that are most successful, they're the ones that they're figuring it out, they're taking action, they're getting behind the video, they're enabling people like us to help them to get more reviews, to shoot the video for them and to help them to really to engage and to inspire and influence is what I call it the customers or the patients of today.

Dr. William Attaway: 16:10

And that expertise is why people engage with you. You know that you can free them up from having to say, oh, I don't have time to see patients and do the marketing, so I don't have time to chase reviews and build my practice. You come alongside clinic girl comes alongside and says, hey, we're going to take care of these things, so you can do what only you can do.

Bref McHugh: 16:34

Exactly, exactly. We as a company we started. It's really cool to hear you say that, because in 2017, when we started Clinique, or when I started it myself, essentially there was, it was very different and the market was different. We basically generated leads for med spas and for cosmetic surgeons and vein practices leads for med spas and for cosmetic surgeons and vein practices, and generating that lead or the inquiry, it turned out that that's just not enough. We've got to as a business. We're all about solving problems. So, as the owner and the leader, I need to figure out how can we go further to solve deeper problems that our clients, that our customers, have, and so that's been part of the journey of growing the business and, as a leader, is loving our customers and really figuring out what we can do to help them to be successful. And so it started with running ads, and then running ads turned into adding automation text message email so that we can engage that conversation and not have to have our clients' staff to be the ones following up with new inquiries. We need to bridge that gap for them and then involved into expanding services to increase the types of patients they were getting, through search engine optimization, through websites and also really importantly for us you touched on there was adding the appointment booking concierge, our call center that schedules patients for our practices 24-7 in most of our niches, and it's really about getting that patient into the practice. And also, really importantly is actually working with our clients, our customers, our medical and aesthetic practices, to help them, to help their customers more, which essentially boils down to sales when that customer, that patient, comes in for the first time, really having that conversation.

Bref McHugh: 18:27

You talk a lot about authenticity, the importance of being authentic, and for our practices that is a lot of the coaching that we do with their team is to remove that perception of sales, and when most people think of sales, typically it's that used car salesman that pops up in people's minds and we've all been traumatized by that at some level, I think.

Bref McHugh: 18:52

And so we work with our teams to help them to remove that vision, that perception, and really just encourage them to do what they like to do, which is to lean in, to ask questions, to be curious with their patients, and as they find out what that patient really needs, what that client really needs, then it's simply a matter of understanding how you can help them and putting that plan together that treatment plan, that plan together, that treatment plan.

Bref McHugh: 19:21

And the difference with both mindsets is the patient that comes in because they saw an ad for Botox, for example that comes in and there's a transaction where the practice can sell them Botox and says bye-bye to the patient. That's one kind of alternative. The other alternative is that the exact same patient comes in, the conversation ensues and the practice finds out that that patient actually has a wedding coming up next year and they want to have the best day of their life. They've dreamt of being married, a bride, since they were a kid, and so it turns into a different solution really putting together a program and a package for that bride-to-be to have the most incredible day of her life. And so, just again, that mindset and understanding really what a person needs and then helping to create a plan for them to get there versus the transactional approach. We call it the therapeutic approach versus the transactional approach.

Dr. William Attaway: 20:14

I think that is so much more honoring to the customer or the client or the patient, because you're seeing them not as that transaction, not simply as a dollar sign, but you're saying how can I best serve them, how can I best address what's at the root of what they're after here, the root of the problem? You're building a relationship instead of just bringing up a transaction, and that's a whole different ballgame. But it requires a different type of team member and I think, a lot of brick and mortar businesses, including aesthetic practices like what you're describing. It's a challenge to find that level of team member, trying to find those A players. Do you come alongside these practices and help them when it comes to finding the right team members?

Bref McHugh: 21:06

You know, yes, in many respects, and while staffing and growing a team, their challenge is really for, I think, for most businesses certainly, you know, growing that team of A players for most businesses certainly, growing that team of A players. And certainly in the medical industry, in the aesthetics industry, we've heard for years, and a lot of small businesses, the struggles of hiring and retaining staff. And hiring and retaining good staff, and so that was part of the impetus for us to start our appointment booking concierge team was to ensure that they had that consistency of the practice that we work with, has that consistency of being able to deliver a remarkable experience to new patients or new prospects on calls. And then there's also roles and team members that are very important to the practices that we can't replicate ourselves. They need that person on their team and so what we've done is, while we don't hire for medical practices, we've created systems and processes and really given our team, our practices, protocols to hire A players and it's things like the typical practice will go to a job posting board, they'll post for it.

Bref McHugh: 22:20

There's a few different services they can use, but it really comes down to again kind of fundamentals of marketing, if you will, if you want to attract the best staff, you've got to think about how you're marketing that position. How are you selling your business as the place to work? What kind of benefits is that team member going to get? How are they going to feel when they come to work for you? And even in just that job posting, it can be down to the title that we use in that job posting what are we advertising it as? Is it a receptionist or is it a new patient concierge? Those types of things.

Bref McHugh: 22:57

The copywriting that goes into the job posting and also internally at the practice. Really importantly is we provide what's called the job scorecard. When hiring those team members is to make sure that during that process, that there's alignment, that there's a shared vision, there's very clear key performance indicators and outcomes, because that team member, that person who's looking for a job, for example, they've got goals, they're somewhere where they are in their current life, their situation, and they want to be somewhere better, they want to improve. So how can you, as the business owner, how can you help them to achieve their goals? I'm really big on win-win relationships and so when you're hiring that team member, how can you create the win for them as they work with you to generate the win for your business.

Dr. William Attaway: 23:42

That is such great leadership Thinking about what is best for the other person, not just yourself, not just your business, but what's best to help meet their needs. I love that, brett. What inspires you to get up every day and do what you do with the excellence that you do it with, you know, for me, in fact, I'll show you, For a lot of us, it's these guys, it's the family.

Bref McHugh: 24:07

I think that's inherent in all of us parents. There's also, personally, there's always been that pursuit of excellence, of growth, of getting better, of helping others to get better, and that's what really inspires me is to deliver impact, and so what I mean by that is when I wake up every morning I've got a morning routine. I'm thinking about the future. I'm very much a momentum-based individual and I look at where I've been, where my clients have been, the success that I've been able to generate for them, the growth that I've experienced, and I always ask myself what more can I do? How much more impact can I make?

Bref McHugh: 24:54

And it really comes down to it's a lot of combination of little things. It's hearing the wins from our clients clients that have tried endless types of solutions before, pull their hair out, considering closing their business, and then having a conversation with us, a frank conversation to understand where they are and then allowing us to create a plan to help them to grow. So for me, it's really about growth. It's about seeing the wins of our clients. It's about hearing about their successes. It's about really helping them to change their lives. It's seeing our team here at ClinicRoar how they're growing their lives.

Bref McHugh: 25:29

When we hire new team members and enroll new customers, we always talk about our growth mindset and the necessity for anybody that we work with and anybody who we hire to truly want to improve, to be a better version of themselves and to help others to improve as well, and I'm a big team sports player and so I think that's my mentality is we're here to play together, to win together. There's always going to be challenges and struggles, but I jump out of bed every day just really looking at what can I do today to improve somebody's life. What can I also do today to get just 1% better? How can I help somebody else that I know or that I work with get 1% better in some way during the course of that day, and that's what really fires me up.

Dr. William Attaway: 26:20

That's inspiring, and one of the things that I ask every guest on the show is thinking about your business, thinking about Clinic Grower. I mean, Clinic Grower needs you to lead at a higher level today than you led at five years ago, and five years from now, your team's going to need you to lead at a higher level still. What are you doing to develop the skills that your team is going to need you to have? How do you continue to stay on top of your game as a leader?

Bref McHugh: 26:56

Yeah, yeah, such a great question. And for me, it's making sure that I've got a baseline of what enables. Again, it's a foundation, really. What foundation do I need? What foundation do I use in order to build on? And for me, it's basic things such as exercise, having a good routine.

Bref McHugh: 27:20

I'm a big soccer player myself, and so I play soccer normally a couple of times a week. I really need to in order to help perform at my best level is to make sure that I'm getting after it, that I'm out there, I'm breaking a sweat, I'm playing sport. That, for me, is really part of the balance that enables me to continue developing. And an example of where I've had to adapt, that is recently I herniated a disc and my soccer schedule got kind of put on ice for a little while, so I needed to figure something else. I actually found, william, that there was a little dip in. I felt my performance dipping and I noticed that I wasn't the leader I should have been during a couple of weeks there. There was just a little bit of lower energy, less inspiring to team members, really not showing up like I normally would, and I had to kind of assess the situation and so realize that for me, exercise is crucial and so during that time I took up different exercise, different stretch routines swimming Recently, got back running soon to get back playing soccer but also that's more.

Bref McHugh: 28:23

My baseline level is it's staying sharp, it's reading, it's attending events, it's networking, it's understanding and getting to know a growing team. We have over 40 team members right now. To know a growing team. We've over 40 team members right now. So what I'm doing is making sure that, as a digital company, that I'm creating a culture that is sustainable, a culture that is growth orientated and a culture that is fun and vibrant to work in.

Bref McHugh: 28:52

And so making sure we have a connection as a team, making sure that myself, as the business owner, that I get to know and stay knowing my team members and it can be a challenge with a growing team. Making sure that myself, as the business owner, that I get to know and stay knowing my team members, and it can be a challenge with a growing team, especially in different regions of the world. So, for me, that baseline of exercise staying sharp between reading good books, making sure that I'm staying up to date with current technologies it's having great mentors, it's having a great network to be able to basically bounce ideas off. My business partner, brad and I just finished our Friday meeting a little while ago and we talk about the future. We're very much looking to continue our growth and continue growing a team of A players here. So there's a lot of different things I do.

Dr. William Attaway: 29:45

One of the biggest things is really keeping a consistent routine that I can be who I need to be and do the things that I need to do in order to be that leader and to grow our team. It's so good and it's so intentional. This stuff isn't just going to happen for you. You have to pursue it, you have to make it happen, and that's what you do, bruv. That's one of the things that I have noticed about you as long as I've known you. You're not just sitting back waiting for right. You're stepping out. You're taking the actions. You're doing the things you need to do to pursue it 100%.

Bref McHugh: 31:40

You know what. That's my kid, for example. Recently I picked him up. He had a soccer camp for a week Icon soccer camp Just picked him up and he's the oldest, he's very similar to myself. He's got that competitive drive. He's in it to win it.

Bref McHugh: 31:57

Having kids you kind of look at similarities and how you can nurture their growth and how you can help them become better versions of themselves every single day. And so just that, getting after it. That was a discussion that I had with my 11-year-old recently. I watched the game and he played a great game and as a parent, you're remembering all the good things that they've done, making sure you mention those. And also, if there's a coaching moment in there which I've had to improve my coaching skills with my 11-year-old because you've got to be careful how you speak to that child right was find that opportunity to encourage him to see ways in which he can get better, ways in which he can modify his game to what you said a bit earlier get after it. When that player has that ball and they take it off you, it'll happen. There's two choices, right.

Bref McHugh: 32:46

If you're in business and you hit a dip, like we did during COVID, there was a lot of business owners that were the sky was falling, what can we do? What we did and I'll tie back to the soccer was our backs were against the wall. So we innovated, we brought in virtual consultations. You got to get after it. You can be the victim or you can be the solution provider. And so for my son, that kind of encouragement comes into making sure that you've got that fire there, that you're ready to get after it. Look to modify your game, Keep training so that you can fill in those gaps in your game or those gaps in your business in order to get better and to improve.

Bref McHugh: 33:21

But you fired me up talking about that getting after that, taking action, because as business owners, that's what we do. We're here to solve problems. We're taking action every single day and I think that in business there's always going to be challenges. We deal with those regularly and the solution most of the time isn't pondering about it forever and kind of looking around and waiting with something that happened, but it's doing something, and that's something might not work, but guess what? The next thing might not work and the thing I thought might not work, but keeping at it, keeping, keeping after it and really pushing forward and being relentless to achieve your goals. And I think it's always easier to keep moving forward and to push through hard times when the vision is clear, when you understand why you're doing things, what that intention is, that purpose and the reason that you're pushing so hard for those goals. So good.

Dr. William Attaway: 34:22

Is there a book that has made a big difference in your journey? Bref, you're a continual learner. Is there one that you would say hey, if you're listening and you haven't read this, this can make a difference.

Bref McHugh: 34:36

Wow, I might cheat a little bit and maybe give a few, but one that really resonates with me because it really got me started on my business ownership journey. I was working back in 2016. And even before that I was working in corporate America for major companies on the marketing advertising side with international sales management, and I realized that I really don't want to do this forever. I don't want to be contingent on somebody else's product. I'm a builder, I need to go to create solutions. And I heard myself. I look back and I'm a different person and I can hear them kind of not really complaining but saying I don't have the time. I'm in to do it today. I didn't have the time, man, I just don't have the time. And then when I looked at the situation, I realized that I was waking up about 7 am. I was going downstairs, I was having breakfast, I was going to work. I was working through the day. I might grab a little bit of lunch, maybe work on my empire building at that time and then maybe do a little bit of work in the afternoon. But it wasn't enough. It wasn't getting me where I wanted to go.

Bref McHugh: 35:44

So I read a great book from Hal Elrod. It's called the Miracle Morning, and that book I read back in 2016. It was actually another podcaster. Pat Flynn really inspired me as I heard him talk about the book. I read that book and I was just okay, let's do it. Let's peel back that clock a little bit. Let's turn that 7 am into 6.30, into 6, into 5.30, into 5. And that was apparent. I'm thinking what the hell was wrong with you. Like, as a parent, you're waking up at all hours in the morning anyway. But that, for me, really was fantastic. It really enabled me to create the time and the space that I needed in order to build, and I also realized during that time that I am very much a morning person. I've got much better energy in the beginning of the day. I love the sunrise and the sunset, but I'll kind of pick the sunrise in most mornings, and so that was a tremendous book.

Bref McHugh: 36:42

There's just recently a book that I've been reading with our team here at Clinic Roar I love, which is Never Lose Another Customer with Joey Coleman. There's so many good books I'm also reading. I think it might be on your list too. Ben Horowitz the Hard Thing About Hard Things. Yes, the book Relentless with Tim Grover Massive, massive fan of that book. I keep going back to that when it comes to, as we spoke about earlier, really pushing through desire, the teachings that we can get from that book. As far as what Kobe did, what Michael Jordan did, what we spoke about earlier, which was most basketball players will do the routine that are provided by the staff, but guess what? Kobe was waking up at 4 am and getting a full training session in before everybody else reported for duty. So, love that book and you know, I know you're a big reader and I love seeing the newsletters and finding out what you're reading as well, which inspires me. But there's just a handful.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:40

I mean, we could maybe do another hour-long session talking about books that we love, but there's some that spring to mind immediately I love that you know you have a new book and one of the things as I was reading your book that really blew me away was how accessible you make what you're talking about. You know, if somebody has no background in marketing, if they have no background in your area of expertise, you're not just putting the cookies up on the top shelf so that only the tall people can reach them. Right, you're putting it where anybody can reach. I would love for you to share about that, about your book and why you wrote it.

Bref McHugh: 38:23

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, back in April of this year I finished the book. It's Seductive Digital Marketing and Sales for Aesthetic Practices so real funny marketing and sales for aesthetic practices so real funny. Before I maybe tell the back story is, once I read the book, my dad and my mother-in-law they asked me I want to see that book, I want to get the book, make sure you send me a copy. And I said, absolutely, just know, this is really kind of specialist stuff. It's called seductive digital marketing and sales for aesthetic practices, and my dad is retired and a carpenter. My mother-in-law worked in the school system. But it was amazing getting their feedback when they did get the book, because when you're caught up in writing it, sometimes you get caught up in the moment, essentially and hearing from them two people that are not in the industry, as far as what they got from the book just learning how to do the simple things, which is attract new patients, attract new customers, how to keep customers, how to increase revenue, how to solve all those problems in your business so that was incredible to hear from them.

Bref McHugh: 39:28

What inspired me to write the book and to start the book was really it was to be able to help to increase the impact that I have within the industry and also within business in general, because I found that there was a number of prospects and customers that I was speaking with that I couldn't necessarily help. They weren't really at the stage where our services at Clinical Role made sense for them. Maybe they were just getting started out or maybe the types of business that they were weren't necessarily in our niche of working with medical aesthetic practices. So that really inspired me to get started on the book and as I put the pen to paper I realized that I want to make this book the type of book where you don't necessarily need to read it from page to page to get everything that you need read it from page to page to get everything that you need. So I compartmentalized it into segments and sections that the business owner, the medical aesthetic practice, can really pick it up and they can immediately go to a chapter to solve that problem that they have.

Bref McHugh: 40:28

At that time I was at an event in Las Vegas about a month ago and I was actually speaking to a med spa about the book and I said you know what? Here you go. I signed a copy and I was about to hand it over. And she went to the back and goes whoa, 397 pages. I'm not sure I can read that. I said you know what 10 minutes a day you'll get there, but all you need to do is tell me what's the greatest struggle you have with your practice right now. And she mentioned the greatest struggle that she had was actually having patients show up. She was having what's called a no-show challenge and so opened up chapter 22. We spoke about how to get patients to show up, how to maximize that show rate, and she was just blown away with how that one chapter really went through and helped her understand how she could solve that problem. And then she saw the other chapters and figured out how she can work her way through that book.

Bref McHugh: 41:19

And so the book was, as I mentioned to you before, certainly a labor of love. It took maybe longer than I expected for sure to write that book my first book but it's been an exciting journey. It's been incredibly rewarding to get the books into people's hands, hear back from them how they enjoyed the book, but also how they've used the trainings and teachings and content in the book in order to help their business. And some of them, as you touched on, people have really just used the concepts. You don't have to be in medical aesthetic practice in order to understand how to attract new customers, how to bring that customer along an amazing journey of experience, how to use different tools and technologies to help to increase the retention of those patients, how to get reviews, how to leverage video, how to do all the things that I discuss in the book. So it's been fun and you know I'm really looking forward to getting more copies out there and to hearing back from more and more people as far as how the book has actually helped them.

Dr. William Attaway: 42:15

It has certainly challenged and educated me as a small business owner and it has caused me to take steps that I had been thinking about. Yeah, I should probably. But after reading what you wrote, it really lit the fire and I said, okay, I'm going to do this, because now I have somebody who's encouraging me and giving me the information I need to do the things. I just want to thank you for that. It's such an encouragement to see somebody who takes their expertise and unpacks it so that any of us can benefit. I know people are going to want to stay connected to you. They're going to continue to learn from you, and I know they're going to want to stay connected to you. They're going to continue to learn from you, and I know they're going to want to see this book. What's the best way for them to get a copy and to continue to learn from you?

Bref McHugh: 43:06

Well, thank you, and I'm glad that you've, you know, went through the book as well. I really want to make sure that I can do everything that I'm doing to get to get our book into the hands of as many medical aesthetic practices just business owners that are looking to grow their business and so what I'd love to do, if it's okay with you, is for anybody who's listening to the show, they can go to clinicgrower. com forward slash free dash book and they can actually pick up a free copy of the book. We've been just receiving tremendous feedback from practices that have been able to do that. The book retails on Amazon, but I really appreciate the connection on the podcast and so for anyone who wants to pick up a copy of that book, they can just go to clinicgrower. com forward slash free dash book.

Dr. William Attaway: 43:50

That is so incredibly generous, Brev. Thank you for that.

Bref McHugh: 43:54

I'm just going to encourage everybody listening pick this up, you're not going to regret it. Don't be intimidated by the number of pages. Understand. This is a resource that is going to help you in so a little bit, or maybe just not 21 anymore. Our customers and the people that have read the book actually love the fact that it's not like a tiny size 10 font, but it's a really nice font size and it's very easy to get through as well. So I'm delighted that we can offer this to your listeners, william, and hopefully we'll get some good feedback from people that take you up on the offer.

Dr. William Attaway: 44:38

We can offer this to your listeners, william, and hopefully we'll get some good feedback from people that take you up on the offer. And to somebody who passed 21 more than a few minutes ago, let me thank you for that. I greatly appreciate that. I'm all about helping people, right, brev? Thank you for being so generous today with your time, with your insights and with your book.

Bref McHugh: 44:53

Absolute pleasure, William. Thank you so much. Really appreciate being on the podcast.

Dr. William Attaway: 44:59

Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbookcom, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 45:35

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business, government, nonprofits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.