Hi!
I am a doctor in process of opening up a TRT clinic. Do you have any thoughts on what you would want out of a TRT doctor?
Having someone acrually knowledgeable about female hormone optimization and fertility management would be a very useful niche. Viktoria Felkarâs entire brand revolves around this.
But for men, just having someone who lets you experiment with our bodies is pretty helpful as âoptimizationâ is easier for men than women. My provider does this already.
2 Likes
Hi Tom, i am not a doctor, but i opened a TRT clinic in January, and can give you plenty of adviceâŠ. Unless you live in my market (North Texas), in which case, youâre on your own buddy!
I donât we are supposed to share emails on here but IG message me @txtestosterone and Iâm happy to share some insights from my experience that can probably save you significant time in research and planning.
I guess, one thing I will share to the forum that has been interesting so far. I have a lot of guys who just seem to have âlost their wayâ when it comes to general health and wellness. Low T can make you hit a wall, but not understanding implications of diet, choices of workout, and lifestyle, is a big thing for a lot of guys too. I am seeking to make my place much more total wellness than just TRT shots each week. We have created lifestyle guides and also do free body composition tracking (inbody) and are connecting men to local complimentary wellness resources (trainer, nutritionists, etc) to help give them the tools to more effectively pursue their health goals. I see this as both a way to differentiate and a response to what I have both experienced and seen from TRT clinics around my area. Most TRT clinics are just a revolving door where you get your shot each week, they are not demonstrating theyâre invested in your wellness. I am doing my best to move us away from that perception as a method to differentiate.
It also helps for us that I am a good model of what is doable with TRT (6â4, 255lb, 9%bf) and a good work ethic to training and food. Most guys we sign up basically look at me and say âi want to look like thatâ. While we definitely wonât get them all there, giving the tools to track their progress and the basics area to focus on is a good stepping stone towards wellness thatâs available if they choose to engage with us at that level.
2 Likes
I agree with the female hormone optimization comment 100%
It is tricky though becuase at least around my area, a lot of med spas will do pellet for females so there is a great deal of competition there. They typically donât âpushâ it but itâs an easy service to add if they have a staff member who is trained because the equipment is complimentary to their tech (you just need a spa bed) and the pharma products have a long shelf life.
There is less money in female pellets as they last less time and just have lower margins generally so that may be another issue with approaching that market. There is a place near me called âHerkareâ (horrible name) that focuses on female HRT, but they donât do a great job from what I have heard.
There may be a future market for it, esp with menopause, itâs probably underserved and underaware,. And god knows women spend more on self-care than men!
For the second point⊠this is tricky, you need to strike a balance between offering a good medical service and helping people reach their goals. In our case, my clinic aims to optimize guys levels to between 900-1100. I have backed off from prescribing other stuff like Deca just recently because Iâm concerned about the risk-reward on it tbh. I am excited to see how the Peptide market evolves, and that may be a good path for you also, we have guys doing Semaglutide, and we also offer Sermorlin (GH peptide) which is a good ânext levelâ for enthusiasts but doesnât feel as risky as prescibing more steroidals
1 Like
A doctor that not only offers TRT when absolutely needed, but also nutritional/lifestyle advice.
A doctor that looks at the bigger picture and not just hormones.
A doctor who doesnât just try to hit numbers, but understands the entire hormonal system. Using Ai caused me bone issues, but hey, I was within range, so yay! The range caused the problems, so Iâm self diagnosing. Youâre not a mentat.
Understands fertility for both men and women and can plan for that. Men on trt basically have cycles - learn how to match that up.
Sex is great. Donât leave that out of your hormone therapy.
Understands how to taper up and down when itâs necessary - I can do a steroid cycle by myself, thank you very much, but if my life-style is better at 500, help with that.
Also donât over book yourself. I have had a shit-ton of doctors who just look at the clock and I can feel it. Especially when they get surprised by someone who has medical training, anatomical knowledge, and is in better shape than you. Be a listener, not a lecturer.
2 Likes
Remember we are all different. Ask questions like how to you react to medications? Fast, slow, medium metabolizer will help. I am a SLOW metabilizer, less is more for me. Not doing that cost be a miserable year and my doctor said âwell Iâm not an endoâ. So then donât try and be.
Donât use names like âAlphaâ or cliche names. Many patients are there for medical reasons not into the bruh science. God knows we donât need another testosterone mill. I just want to feel good regardless and donât need to start with 3 medications so we donât know what is affecting what. How would you like to be treated if you were treating yourself?
Nutritional and lifestyle advice like mentioned above would be excellent.
3 Likes
Clear pricing from the off.
2 Likes
Great idea! Donât understand why women are left out of this
1 Like
That would get great! HAHA no in the Chicago area.
Thanks for the feedback!! What do you think would be best in person or virtual? I guess hybrid would be an option as well.
I am also in the Chicago area, and currently using Hone, but when you get set up Iâd be interested in switching.
One consideration with women⊠my clinic is guys only (though I am planning to do pellets 2 evenings a month for women only in off hours). Reason for this is that low testosterone and complimentary menâs health issues like sexual function can be a point of pride for many men and so having a place that only guys go to and that thereâs no risk of running into your Neighbourâs wife or whomever that you know, can be useful (especially if youâre in the suburbs like I am). It does but the market a little but it also then means marketing can be more focused, and the aesthetic etc can be tailored to menâs tastes vs having to be more neutral. My site is www.txtestosterone.com. Go take a look around, I also strongly recommend getting end to end self service digital booking channels (you can see these on my site, thereâs various tools you can pick from for this). Very few seem to do this but itâs much more convenient for prospects to use versus contact forms and you can still prequalify with intake questions during that booking process
1 Like
Make sure to have that clear when doing your registrations etc m. I somewhat regret not adding telemed to everything as I may have to retro it in down the line. I think âlightâ telemed is fine (like phone consults for current patients) but true telemed where they never set foot in the clinic has some implications on things like med mal insurance so make sure to have a clear view of your plan going in or youâll have extra work down the road.
Also a VERY different marketing play if youâre going telemed.
Great points! Your website looks great. Iâm looking into market strategy now, how did you go about that?
Be happy to have you! Currently doing a beta test with some members, if you are interested. Our website is www.fashionedhealth.com
With my first location itâs been mostly intuition on my local market as to what will work. For TRT, in/out access is important for cars because many people are coming weekly. Being visible from a busy road is also useful if possible for general brand awareness. Commercial Leasing sites will have details of the local demographics on their properties that you can usually access for free so thatâs another good source to help qualify the market. You can also use metaâs ad tools to build audiences and look at what size of your chosen demo (in my case thatâs men aged 30+) based on radius from your potential location. That will only be audience that is addressable by social campaign but is another good metrics tool.
Thanks for all the help. Just an update we opened in Elmhurst and doing well. We also started doing hormone replacement for women and the results have been amazing.
1 Like