Dr. Douglas S. Steinbrech of Alpha Male Plastic Surgery: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO
If you have a vision and innovative ideas, something that’s truly different, then the rest really focuses on providing the best product and the best services. You do with a high degree of quality so that you can set yourself apart from the others. If you do this well, the money will follow. It gives me a great deal of freedom to not have to worry about or have no desire to have people say at my funeral that I was rich. I would rather have people so that I was a loving father and that I had carved out a successful business life.
As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Douglas Steinbrech.
Dr. Douglas Steinbrech is a Plastic Surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons under the American Board of Medical Specialties. Dr. Steinbrech specializes in Minimally Invasive Aesthetics. He incorporates this philosophy into all of his surgical and non-surgical techniques. He has been selected as one of America’s Top Plastic Surgeons by the Consumers’ Research Council of America.
Thank you so much for joining us Dr. Steinbrech! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I had finished up my training at NYU which is an amazing place to learn about plastic and reconstructive surgery. I was in my office, frustrated and struggling to try to be yet another plastic surgeon that did the ladies tummy tucks and the facelifts — it was very challenging.
I had several friends that were men at the time. They wanted to get their abs done or remove some fat from their love handles and I started to do more and more of those procedures.
My patient coordinator saw that there was something to this and we created an educational website approximately eight years ago. The practice took off. After that, we took the Male Plastic Surgery LA operation to Beverly Hills. We’ve been out there for four years now.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting story that was a game-changer for me since I began my career was realizing the power of BodyBanking. BodyBanking is taking out the bad fat from the bad areas in men and women and isolating the cells for structure and for volume in desired areas.
I was frustrated initially with the results that we were getting with traditional Liposuction. Then the lightbulb went off. I realized that we have to stop throwing away the fat and I started to add it back in like a sculptor uses clay to enhance and create volume in desired areas.
When we started doing this to increase chest cleavage, bigger shoulders, traps that pop, or a more athletic contour. That is when I realized that we were onto something that was very significant. Since that point, BodyBanking has been the cornerstone of the practice.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
There was one specific tipping point in my career where I started to see success. My secretary made more than I did during my first year because I was pouring all of our revenue back into the company. I was frustrated.
When we started shifting and aiming at innovation and excellence in a different field, I noticed that there were more patients that we’re seeking out our services. The schedule was filling up and as a surgeon, we take great pride in being the operating room, doing surgery and I realized at that point that everything was going to be OK. The practice and the Alpha Aesthetics company going to be a success.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I first started out I thought that the patients needed to see a crisp professional surgeon in a suit and a tie with the pocket square. I would do consults and talk for hours.
I realized that the patients didn’t see that a surgeon should be in a suit and tie. A busy surgeon would be in his surgical office in scrubs. So this is where I am today. The ties are for going to work and heading home only.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
After we expanded the practice to Alpha Male Plastic Surgery Los Angeles in Beverly Hills we knew that that was proof of concept and could be scaled to other major metropolitan areas.
With a great product and innovative techniques, we felt that we had something different to offer in other towns. With that, we are currently training an excellent surgeon for Chicago expansion and also moving into the Miami area. I think these are very exciting projects which will help people because we will continue to bring quality techniques and services to people in these areas.
I’m also particularly excited about Alpha Wear which is a line of postoperative garments that are critical to the healing process after patients have had one of our extensive total torso transformations.
They are designed for comfort and they are designed for men. Whereas many of the current surgical garments have frilly lace on them and are white or nude in color for women, these garments have no lace and they are designed to look more masculine/superhero rather than a man being in women’s underwear.
I think this will be a game-changer for postoperative man surgical care.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became CEO”? Please share a story or example for each.
- You don’t need an MBA degree. I always thought that a doctor or someone without a lot of business experience wouldn’t be able to start a new business. I’ve learned a lot from books and from online stories and just from hard work and making mistakes. But I realized that everyone needs an MBA to start a business.
- I also realized that so many things are just being prepared and taking the jump to execute. A lot of things in life are just not executed because people missed their opportunity. There is no grants ministry to entrepreneurial spirit or execution.
- If you have a vision and innovative ideas, something that’s truly different, then the rest really focuses on providing the best product and the best services. You do with a high degree of quality so that you can set yourself apart from the others. If you do this well, the money will follow. It gives me a great deal of freedom to not have to worry about or have no desire to have people say at my funeral that I was rich. I would rather have people so that I was a loving father and that I had carved out a successful business life.
- There’s a great business bar called blue ocean that talks about finding your new niche away from all the red ocean where all the sharks are going after the same bodies. When everyone else is gone right I decided to go to left, but when you do that you still have to have a plan and you still have to have hard work. I’ve found that hard work with a good idea is the key to success.
What advice would you give to your colleagues to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
To thrive and not burn out my advice to college is to find your passion and make your passion your work. I became passionate about men’s aesthetics and this allowed me to flourish rather than to go and do the same work that all the other people were doing.
On a personal note to prevent burnout, I would tell my colleagues to exercise, I like tennis, going to the gym and golf. Get plenty of sleep so you can really focus on key tones of the morning.
I got a lot of work done early in the morning before everybody wakes up.
Love your family, that’s what it’s all about.
None of us achieve it without some help, one of the great plastic surgeons that I have always looked up to because of his career and his dedication is Sherrell Aston.
When I first started my practice, I went out for dinner with some colleagues. I walked past their office after dinner and found that the lights were still on and at that point. I realized if I was going to get anywhere in this life it was going to be because of hard work and extra time spent at night and on weekends (as my department chair at NYU Dr. Joe McCarthy used to say).
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would enhance people’s lives in some way, what would it be? You never know what your idea can trigger!
I would start a foundation that inspires kids and tells them not to be a victim of work. Rather, to expose them to ideas and the pathway for good education to be able to elevate them to do and be whatever they want in life. I would encourage that same foundation to teach parents to make sure their kids stay in school and stay away from drugs and bad elements. Avoid the darkness when they need to see the light of the power of education and hard work.
How can our readers find you on social media?
Website: http://MalePlasticSurgery.com
You can find us on Instagram under @maleplasticsurgery
Dr. Douglas S Steinbrech of Alpha Male Plastic Surgery: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Be was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.