She’s also the creator of a natural and organic skincare and supplement line designed to support healthy skin from the inside out.
Known for her PBS special Younger Skin From Within, Dr. Cates blends her journey of overcoming chronic skin issues with her professional expertise in holistic and integrative medicine.
Dr. Cates emphasizes the importance of addressing the root causes of skin issues through the “clean skin from within” philosophy, which focuses on nutrition, mindset, detoxification, and non-toxic topical care.
She also shares key entrepreneurial insights, including the value of staying focused, building a loyal community, leveraging tools like Trello for team organization, and aligning health with productivity.
Website: The Spa Dr.
LinkedIn: Dr. Trevor Cates
Previous Episode: iam338-author-and-skin-care-doctor-helps-clients-achieve-confidence-and-beautiful-skin
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Transcription:
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Dr. Trevor Cates Teaser 00:00
When you can change and address the root causes that are behind skin issues, it helps your overall health.
And so, a healthier lifestyle not only is gonna help you lose weight, but it also can help you clear up skin issues.
And I knew that personally, but I realized so many people didn't see that because the typical approach to dermatology is to use topical steroids to basically suppress the symptom and not really getting to the root cause.
Intro 00:30
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:58
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Dr. Trevor Cates of The Spa Dr., Dr. Trevor, it's awesome to have you on the show.
Dr. Trevor Cates 01:07
It's great to be here.
Gresham Harkless 01:09
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about you so people can hear about all the awesome things that you're doing.
And Dr. Cates is founder and owner of The Spa Dr., and author of the bestselling book, Clean Skin From Within.
Dr. Cates is the host of The Spa Dr weekly podcast and has her own PBS special, Younger Skin From Within.
She believes the key to healthy skin is inner and outer nourishment with non-toxic ingredients.
Dr. Cates, The Spa Dr, skincare and supplemental lines are formulated with natural and organic ingredients designed to help you achieve the clean and natural path to confidence and beautiful skin.
Dr. Cates, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Dr. Trevor Cates 01:49
Absolutely.
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Gresham Harkless 01:50
Awesome. Let's do it. So, they kick everything off. I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. We'll let you just start your business.
Dr. Trevor Cates 01:58
Well, I guess it started as a child, I had a lot of health issues and a lot of that showed up on my skin.
I had these rashes and eczema, and hives, all kinds of skin issues that were not only physically uncomfortable and debilitating.
Really, they kept me up at night, and felt itchy and really bothered me. But also, because a lot of it was on my face, it was also embarrassing as a kid, being really embarrassed by my skin.
And my parents took me to see a lot of different conventional doctors, specialists, and I didn't get relief from that.
I just had allergic reactions to the medications or adverse reactions to the medications.
And I just remember feeling more and more miserable until my parents finally found a different solution, which was a holistic, integrative type of practitioner that they took me to.
And it's the one thing that really made a change in my own health, my symptoms cleared up, I felt better physically, but then that also helped me feel better emotionally and have more self-confidence because my skin issues cleared up.
And I remember thinking, as a young child, I was probably like 11, 12 years old, I remember thinking, why wasn't this holistic option presented to us in the beginning? Why didn't I get this option early on?
But so, because of that, it led me to be very interested in natural medicine and a holistic approach.
And that's what eventually led me to go to find naturopathic medical school, and my passion really to be able to help other people see this as an option and to use an integrative approach to medicine.
And also, what it is eventually, what led me to specialize in skin issues too, and write my book Clean Skin from within, and create my own natural and organic skincare line that works well for people with eczema and sensitive skin.
So, it's that passion that I think so many of us as entrepreneurs have taking that pain, once was a pain, then that turned into a passion, into a lifelong dream.
And so, it's, I mean, it's been a great journey. I've loved this part of it.
Anyway, of course, as a child, I definitely don't want to go back to that, really.
Gresham Harkless 04:28
Yeah, you took me back there too, because I have had a pimple or two going to school, and you never like it. It's always a frustrating thing.
But it's great to hear that you've been able, you were able to, and your parents were able to at that time, find something to help solve that.
But, like you said, in true entrepreneurial form, you didn't just stop there. You decided to create something to help out so many others that are going through those same things.
Dr. Trevor Cates 04:50
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Gresham Harkless 04:51
You're welcome. You're welcome. And I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper here, a little bit more about your podcast here, more about the skincare lines you have. Can you tell us how you're serving the clients that you're working with?
Dr. Trevor Cates 05:02
Yeah, absolutely. So, I've been a naturopathic physician for about 20 years, seeing patients.
And I think it was about six years ago now that I was working in a world-renowned spa, and I got to be known as the spa doctor because I was the doctor in the spa.
So, I was seeing patients, I was running people through a two-week program. And the program, the two-week program, was more catered towards weight loss.
And what people would say at the end of the two-week program, they'd say, well, Dr. Cates, I've lost this weight. I feel great.
But what really surprises me is my skin. I didn't know it could look this good. And I realized at that point that many people, while I realized at an early age that when you can change and address the root causes that are behind skin issues, it helps your overall health.
And so, a healthier lifestyle not only is going to help you lose weight, but it also can help you clear up skin issues.
And I knew that personally, but I realized so many people didn't see that because the typical approach to dermatology is to use topical steroids to basically suppress the symptom.
And not really getting to the root cause, and not really realizing the power of food as medicine, and lifestyle choices playing a big role in that.
And that, there's a piece of all of this. Integrative medicine is truly using all aspects of medicine in its best ability, right?
And so that's when I realized, okay, I need to do something. I need to write this book. I need to write, that's what led me to write Clean Skin From Within. And that's what caused me to create The Spa Dr as a company.
So that had been, I'd become known as The Spa Dr, but what I did is I created the Spa Doctor LLC.
And so, I had an online skin summit, and I had 40,000 people register and attend that.
So, it built up my email list, which, when I did the book launch, it had, it gave me something to send out to, and then I created the skincare line, the National and Organic Skincare line, and supplements to also to as part of that business.
Because books don't typically on their own, unless you are at the very top of all of the bestseller lists, they don't usually bring in a lot of money.
Right. That you can kind of promote in your business that will help monetize a book, or maybe speaking, or there are a lot of different options with books.
But that's kind of how it all, and that was three years ago when I really got the skincare line out there, and the book came out a little over two years ago, and so it's just really, once I created that skin as a niche, that's when things took off.
And that's when this business really, came to light and, and became real. And it, it was so fast how quick it took off and how quickly I was able to in the second year, I hit seven figures.
And so, it's, I mean, I, I think that that's one of the things that I want to share with people is that when you really hone in on something specific, especially when you've got passion and excitement behind it, I think magic can happen there.
Gresham Harkless 08:28
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate you, you know, sharing that with us because I think a lot of times, trying to, especially with it, like you mentioned skincare, like you look at it just as you mentioned, like everybody's doing it one way.
But you just saw it, you decided and saw that there was another opportunity, largely because you already knew it, but you didn't realize that other people didn't know that perspective.
So, once you saw that, it sounds like a light just kind of switched off, and you were able to kind of drill down and create that niche and be able to own that niche as a spa doctor.
Dr. Trevor Cates 08:57
Yeah, absolutely.
Gresham Harkless 08:59
Nice. And would you consider that to be like your secret sauce, what I call like your unique selling proposition? What do you feel distinguishes you or your organization?
Dr. Trevor Cates 09:07
At this point? I mean, and I still feel like my company is fairly new and young and we're in our in a growth phase now. I feel like at this point, though, what has helped me get to this point is a couple of things, that building up the brand and our community.
We have, because of the podcast, I think that's part of it, the education that I provide to my community, we have very loyal customers.
And I think that that's part of our secret sauce. We have an auto-ship program that people can get in the skincare system, they get set up where it's sent to them every four, six, or eight weeks.
And of course, it's a fantastic skincare system that helps people with their skin issues.
It's not only natural and organic ingredients, but it actually works to help clear up skin issues, and so that's, of course, there.
But people also get the education and the support. So, they get a lot of education about health and wellness through my podcast, through my blogs, and then my book provides that inside-out approach to skin, because I really believe it's both.
So, I think the secret sauce is, like I said, it's providing something for the community, and part of it is that brand, working on really creating a solid brand for the spa doctor.
Gresham Harkless 10:31
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And what I wanted to do was switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack.
And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.
Dr. Trevor Cates 10:42
I think, as far as something technical, I would say I really love I love Trello. I love using Trello. And I think it has helped me help keep my team organized.
We have everything organized. Everybody every week we go through our team calls, we look at the Trello card, we can pull things up, and it really helps us stay on track. So, I would definitely say that's helped.
Gresham Harkless 11:10
Nice. And now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can happen to a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
Dr. Trevor Cates 11:20
I think it's really important to focus and it's easy to get kind of ADD and get distracted by all the different opportunities. I think as an entrepreneur, and I know other entrepreneurs think this, we have so many ideas.
And it's easy to just keep chasing different ideas and think, oh, what about this? And what about that?
Oh, I had this idea. And I think that can dilute things down and make it really challenging, and also for your team to kind of follow you wherever you are in your schedule or whatever place. But if you can really focus and stay on point.
Gresham Harkless 11:57
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, kind of like what we talked about before. Like sometimes if you focus on things, they'll kind of manifest itself.
And as an entrepreneur, a lot of times you see, once you see one opportunity, you start to see them everywhere.
And you got to make sure that you stay disciplined, stay focused, not just for yourself, but also for your team, or you will try to chase two rabbits and catch none, so to speak.
Now, I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO.
And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So, Dr. Cates, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Dr. Trevor Cates 12:25
I mean, I think it comes with a lot of responsibility and also comes with a lot of freedom because you get to be in charge of your own schedule and your own life.
It also gives you, creates a lot of responsibility too because you're in charge. You're the one that people look to as a leader in your company.
And so, I think there's a balance in that; it's the responsibility can sometimes feel like a lot of pressure, but it also can be very empowering to know that you're in charge.
And I know that whenever I really struggled throughout my life, when I would try and work for other people because I do best as the CEO, I do best as a person in charge, and I mean, I just, that's what I just know about myself. Does that answer the question?
Gresham Harkless 13:23
It definitely does. And I think a lot of people that are listening as well could probably relate to that.
But the key, I always say one of the big keys is always knowing myself and me understand like, where your lane is.
And I was to say, you can never lose a race if you're running your own race. So if you understand yourself, understand what you're good at, and you stay consistent and true with that, then it's hard to kind of lose.
Dr. Trevor Cates 13:44
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think being a CEO and being an entrepreneur, it's not for everybody.
You decide what works best for you. People do better when they actually get a little direction from other people. It's not all on them.
So, if you don't feel like it's a great fit for you, then don't feel like you have to force it.
But I think it becomes pretty clear when you know that if you have that mindset or not, if you're cut out for this or not.
Gresham Harkless 14:22
Yeah. Especially like in business and running a business, especially, you find out very quickly whether or not you have it or not.
Cause the score is kept pretty, pretty quickly. And you understand if it works or it's not working.
Dr. Trevor Cates 14:36
Right. Right.
Gresham Harkless 14:37
Dr. Case, I truly appreciate your time. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there is anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know.
And then of course, how best they can find out about all the awesome things you're doing. Subscribe to your podcast and get your book.
Dr. Trevor Cates 14:51
Of course, yeah. And I think that so much of being productive has to do with taking care of our health and taking care of our bodies.
Because if you're not taking care of your health, then you may not have a lot of energy, you may not be sleeping well at night, you might be overly stressed, you might feel depressed.
I know there are a lot of different things that can happen if you're not taking care of your body. So, in my book, I talk about four different aspects of really helping clear up skin issues.
And really, if you follow these, you're not only going to help clear up your skin, but you're also going to help your health overall. It just helps health and vitality.
So clean plate, clean slate, clean body, and clean mind are the four different aspects of that. And they're all in my book, Clean Skin From Within.
And people can find that on Amazon or on thespadr.com, the website. And thespadr.com is DR abbreviated, doctor is abbreviated, so T-H-E-S-P-A-D-R.com.
Gresham Harkless 15:54
Absolutely. Yes. And I appreciate you for writing that and creating your podcast. And then of course, the time that you took today, and we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes as well.
So, if you want to get a copy of the book or also visit your website, we'll have that in the show notes as well. But thank you again, Dr. Case. I truly appreciate you. I hope you have a great rest of the day.
Dr. Trevor Cates 16:11
Thank you.
Outro 16:12
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I AM CEO is not just a phrase; it's a community.
Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a 5-star rating. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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