Although there has been no disruption in getting episodes/blogs out into the wild, there has been quite a bit of disruption and transition in our personal lives. Recently…like a week ago…I got an abdominoplasty and a breast augmentation. Wow, it feels a little weird telling the world that, but we are gonna roll with it for the sake of this week’s blog and that fun buzz word: authenticity. In case you don’t know, an abdominoplasty is another term for a tummy tuck. So like, major cosmetic surgery. Even more major than I anticipated.

The Why

This is going to take me a minute, and believe it or not, I promise I will tie this all back into branding. But let me give you a bit of back story as to how we got here: As many of you know, I have three children. I had my daughter in 2018 and she arrived by an urgent, not emergent C-section. There was some minor scar tissue build up, but overall, it seemed like the run-of-the-mill C-section incision and recovery. Our second child was born in 2020 through a scheduled C-section, which seems like it should be “easy” in quotation marks. I’ve been through a C-section before, I knew what to expect, this is scheduled, so I can make sure our daughter is taken care of. Easy day, right? Wrong. I woke up with this wrenching pain in my right side up by my hip, a few inches removed from the edge of my C-section incision. I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t know what, so I asked the doctor. That is when he informed me that he took the liberty of pulling my right ab back over for me because it hadn’t healed correctly after my daughter. LIKE WHAT?! He was just in there slicing and dicing and stitching and pulling with no consent from me whatsoever and framed it as if he was doing me a favor! Well, then we find out we are pregnant with our third child and due in 2022. Yes, my body really like that slightly less than two year pattern. After that C-section, I knew it wasn’t super likely that I would find a doctor or hospital that would allow me to give birth naturally because the more C-sections you have, the higher the likelihood of having complications with a natural birth. But I really did not want to have another C-section after my second one. So I found the only hospital in the state of Kentucky that would allow me to have a natural birth after 2 sections and I traveled an hour each way for every single appointment in order to make that happen. Fast forward to 41 weeks and 5 days…for all you mommas out there…you know how excruciating those overdue days are. And for anyone who isn’t a mom, 40 weeks is a full-term pregnancy, that’s your due date. And generally, doctors will only allow you to go to 42 weeks, so I was two days from getting induced, which is actually what led to the initial C-section that started us down this whole path. All this to say, I went into labor naturally with our third child, but I had this sense that something wasn’t right. Didn’t know what labor was supposed to feel like, but this was fast and furious and constantly painful, not like the contractions I was expecting. So we rushed to the hospital (and by rushed, I mean an hour-long drive into Louisville at 4pm on a Friday), I was admitted at 5:02pm and he was born at 5:17pm through an emergency C-section. Without getting into the details, we are both very lucky and very thankful to be alive and healthy, but that C-section had resounding affects in my abdomen. I had pain by my incision, it was uneven, had a ton of scar tissue and my third, although an average-sized baby, was my biggest baby. After that pregnancy and delivery, my body was more foreign to me than ever, PLUS I was dealing with discomfort everyday.

My immediate thought was not to jump straight to plastic surgery. I went to physical therapy and did pelvic floor work…still had pain and still had diastasis recti. For those that don’t know, that is when your abs separate and it does happen to a lot of moms. I did the exercises and scar tissue massage I was assigned…still had pain, still couldn’t bring the abs back together. I began having more pain up by my belly button and thought it was possibly a hernia, but was told by my primary care doctor that it probably wasn’t, but would schedule a CAT scan for me anyway. 

In the meantime, as I waited for the CAT scan to take place, I started looking into other, more invasive options—like a scar revision and ab muscle repair—which is what led me to plastic surgery. And to be fair, I had always wanted to get my boobs done after being a AA my entire life. And for those who don’t know, a AA is smaller than an A. But at this point, I was like—let’s call it a mommy makeover or whatever and get it done all at the same time. 

So I went in for the consult with Dr. Michael Lynch at Plastic Surgeons of Lexington. And I was actually astounded by what he said to me. He looked at my scar and my abdomen, pushed on a bunch of my organs, then said he didn’t know exactly what was going on with my scar, but he refused operate on me without me getting the CAT scan to reveal any hernias either by my scar or by my bellybutton. He then asked me how old my children were, I told him. He asked who was going to watch them while I recovered. I told him we had always had them with us while I was recovering from the C-sections, so my husband and I were planning on manning them post-surgery. He then refused to operate AGAIN on me unless I swore to him that we had help with the kids. He told me this is a major surgery and that they couldn’t be crawling on me. In one consult appointment he adamantly refused to operate on me TWICE. He gave me TWO conditions that I had to fulfill before he would ALLOW me to spend tens of thousands of dollars with him. So let’s put a pin in that for a second.

I ended up getting the CAT scan and actually an MRI too to try and figure out what was going on—no hernias and no answers. So I decided to move forward with the scar revision and ab repair. Boom—done—fulfilled ONE of my two conditions to work with Dr. Lynch. Now I just had to figure out the childcare situation. Luckily, both Caleb and myself have very supportive parents. So they said bring ‘em on up to Virginia and we will tag team and take care of them for the first two weeks of your recovery. Alright, second conditioned: fulfilled.

To give you a bit of the timeline…my initial consultation appointment was in mid-October. Once I had gotten the CAT scan and was ready to schedule the surgery, it was probably early November. When I called to schedule, the office staff was like, “Does February work for you?” I was like, “THREE MONTHS OUT?!” Yep, so first—he gave me conditions before I could spend tens of thousands of dollars with him. Then, I was willing to wait three months to work with Dr. Lynch…

Now, let’s fast forward to my pre-op appointment in mid-january. It was a snowy morning and we were coordinating childcare. Many places had closed, but they were still open and seeing patients, so I wanted to make my appointment, and I wanted Caleb to be there with me because he was the one who was going to be caring for me as I recovered. Due to the snow, he was late to the appointment, but they were willing to rearrange their schedule to wait for him and accommodate us. They could see I was nervous and did their best to make sure I felt seen. Once Caleb arrived, Dr. Lynch took the time to answer all of our questions, assured me everything was going to be great, and every time I thought we were wrapping up, he would ask me another question about myself. Even though I had thrown their schedule, he was still willing to sacrifice time for me and not make anything feel rushed. It was a great experience. 

Every single person I encountered in their office—from Dr. Lynch himself, to the nurses, to the office staff—every single person was kind and welcoming. The interior of the waiting room was plush with lots of soft sitting options, light, neutral colors with their slogan: “Emerge confident” written in various places in the waiting room and on the resources and papers given to me. There were subtle butterflies, implying the transformation in which their clients were emerging confidently. Overall, the office feels luxurious and comfortable and encouraging.

Now come to surgery day. He was upbeat, energetic, and encouraging. He marked up my body like it was a canvas and when it was my time to be on the surgical table, he was cracking jokes and making me feel relaxed up until the moment I went under.

Throughout recovery, he has been encouraging and present. He mentioned I could email him any time and he would get back to me as soon as he saw the email. In the face of modern healthcare, I found myself thinking…sure he will. But I had a question I think it was 3 days post op…emailed him, received a response back in like less than an hour. Same thing happened twice more since then and right now we are just 10 days post op. Every single email he signs off, “Hang in there!” Like I feel like I have gained a friend in the process of emerging confident, and for me, stronger than before now that a three-inch gap in my abs and my gnarly C-section scar tissue has been removed!

Okay, now although I am happy to continue to give recovery updates, I want to conclude story time so I can bring it back around to branding, as I promised.

How Dr. Lynch Became “Oversubscribed” According to Daniel Priestley’s Principles

Of course recovery is/was supposed to be a relaxing time and so far, it truly has been. But I can’t chill if my life depended on it, so naturally what have I done with my recovery time—I have read business books. I cannot remember who recommended this one to me, but it has been one of the best ones I have read in a long time. The book is called “Oversubscribed: How to Get People Lining Up To Do Business with You” by Daniel Priestley. I’ll leave an Amazon link to it in the show notes. I have not yet finished the book, but I just concluded Part 1, which is where he outlines and defines his eight principles behind being oversubscribed. And as I was reading this book, so many things kept pointing me back to Dr. Lynch and his practice, which is clearly oversubscribed because I was willing to wait three months for my surgery. I am not going to go into all eight principles here today, but I will go into the ones that were clearly illustrated in my experience with Dr. Lynch and his practice.

First make your market then make your sales.

The first principle is: First make your market then make your sales. Priestley, the author, explains that you’re not talking to everyone when you’re selling…you’re only talking to YOUR people. That’s marketing 101 right? But then goes into the four marketing positions that are oversubscribed: innovation, relationships, convenience, price. I can certainly tell you that this practice is not cornering the market on convenience or price, because I waited months to be seen because I wanted to and because I did not pay bottom dollar for these procedures. So that leaves innovation and relationships for Dr. Lynch’s market position, and I can attest to every single individual in that office being willing to accommodate, help, and welcome me throughout every stage of the pre-, during, and post-surgery process. So right there, I know that they are positioning themselves to stand out in the “relationships” category.

Be different and set your own rules.

The second principle is: Be different and set your own rules. Priestley says—it’s okay to tell people no. It’s okay to make people wait. In a world where we all, myself included obviously, want instant gratification…being told no made me trust my doctor and want to work with him even MORE, thus making him even more oversubscribed.

Dr. Lynch set his own rules for the terms in which he was willing to work with me. He was NOT willing to work with me if I didn’t get a complete understanding of my medical standing. He needed to know what he was walking into so he could ensure he was helping me to the best of his ability. He was NOT willing to work with me if I didn’t find help with my kids because he knew I wouldn’t be able to properly recover with them immediately next to me. He told me NO, even though I was willing and ready to spend a big chunk of change with him.

This made me re-evaluate a lot of what I have been doing in my business. Especially because when I think in terms of wanting to be the leader in a relationship-driven business, it almost feels like I HAVE to say yes in order to gain and retain clients…but that’s not the truth, clearly demonstrated by the examples in this book PLUS my real-life experience with Dr. Lynch’s practice. 

Nothing beats being positively remarkable.

The third and final Oversubscribed principle I want to touch on today is: Nothing beats being positively remarkable. Priestley says if you are positively remarkable, your marketing budget will dwindle, essentially because the word-of-mouth will spread, quite literally how I am creating a podcast episode about how remarkable my experience with Dr. Lynch was.

He also says that oversubscribed businesses focus their funds on their existing customers, not their potential customers. So essentially they’re taking that marketing budget that they no longer need and are finding ways to continue building their relationship with their existing clients. A way that Dr. Lynch’s office did this was by giving me a complimentary Botox treatment as a thank you for doing business with them. This is genius, not only because of they are upholding the principle upheld here, but because they know the person getting plastic surgery is likely also the person who would be interested in getting Botox. Either they are doting on their current Botox customer or they are introducing a new customer, someone like me who has never gotten Botox, and is likely to like the results so much that I keep coming back for more, thus adding to their oversubscription.

Finally, this section is also where the author touches on personal branding, which you all know I love. I think it is so interesting how some people have a personal brand and have no idea that they do. Like, real quick, for example…think about your favorite teacher in school. What made them your favorite? I would be willing to be it was because they operated by a set of standards and values that they upheld and that they were consistent in whatever personality they had. That’s essentially what a personal brand is. And who knows, maybe he has gone through and outlined and defined his personal brand. But if I had to describe Dr. Lynch’s personal brand in three words, I would say: confident, direct, and welcoming. He gained my trust in the beginning, he led me seamlessly through a really scary process of a huge surgery, and was there to support me throughout the recovery. Although, I am hoping not to be under the knife again for a very long time, I will absolutely be shouting his name from the rooftops any time someone is thinking about plastic surgery. Before I close, I’m gonna pause one more time for some information about the Brand Development Program in case you want me to do an analysis on your brand, just like I’ve done with Dr. Lynch’s here!

Signing Off

Well, there you have it—the tea on my boobs and belly, plus some branding knowledge all wrapped up in one blog post.

Signing off on podcasting/blogging (anything other than client work) for a few weeks, but until then, keep dreaming, keep creating, and remember: your brand is your story. Let’s tell it together.