By Michael Meyer

The immediate impact of body sculpting treatments on medical aesthetics cannot be overstated. Just over a decade ago, the energy devices that perform these procedures were being pioneered, and now there is such demand for body sculpting that entire practices can be dedicated to these treatments. The Arizona medical spa Bodify, for example, offers CoolSculpting treatments exclusively, and filling this niche has allowed it to become a major success story.

Bodify was co-founded by sisters Jessica Stellwagen and Melissa Mickelson. Although the two had wanted to work together for some time, they took two very different paths to where they are today—Mickelson got involved in medical aesthetics, but Stellwagen worked primarily in business consulting.

"I went to school for marketing and business," Stellwagen says. "I had a ton of different roles with different companies, and the one right before we opened Bodify was traveling the country and teaching attorneys how to build their practices. So, although it might seem unrelated, it was very serendipitous, because I think a lot of what I learned doing that job allowed us to open the doors seven years ago and hit the ground running and know how to build a really strong foundation for our business."

Part of that business savvy included the knowledge that, as one of her mentors told her, "niches make riches."

"The more we explored doing one thing, the more we felt like it was going to be a powerful position for us in the marketplace," Stellwagen says. "We knew that when we opened, we wanted to have a very compelling differentiator for why people would choose us versus any other practice in the state of Arizona for their body contouring needs."

They chose body contouring because Mickelson had performed CoolSculpting treatments and seen the results they could provide. Stellwagen, meanwhile, had the procedure herself and was enthusiastic about the results.

"At the very core—good, bad, right or wrong—how we feel in our skin impacts every interaction we have on a daily basis," she says. "If I wake up and my jeans are looser than the day before, watch out world—I'm in a good mood. And if they're tighter, watch out world, because you will get my wrath. So, I love the idea of being able to change my body—sometimes in a dramatic way and sometimes in a subtle way, but it didn't matter because it was about what I wanted and what allowed me to feel most comfortable and confident. Just sitting with people and hearing their stories and listening to what they're trying to achieve and how they haven't had success and how it brings them down emotionally in their own sphere of influence, and knowing that we have the ability to change that for people is really exciting."

Being able to concentrate on performing one treatment not only streamlines Bodify's business model, but also helps make the process safe and easy for patients.

"The simplicity of our model is something that I personally love," says Stellwagen. "I'm very motivated and very driven and very passionate, but if I'm honest, I'm also lazy and I want my life to be simple. I wake up every day, I know what my goals are, I know what my team's goals are, and I know what we're trying to achieve. It just allows us, in a very organized and intentional way, to build our practice how we want. It's just not surface level, because we eat live, sleep and breathe one thing."

And even though she didn't start in medical aesthetics, Stellwagen can't see herself doing anything else now.

"I love the idea of uplifting and sparking joy and helping people get what they want," she says.
"I was just blown away by the number of people who are dissatisfied with their body, and love the idea of being able to close that gap between the body people have and they one they want with this non-invasive tech. The moment I did it on myself and saw the results, I was like, 'This is a winner, and this is what we want to do.'"

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