How a 49-Year-Old Skeptic Ended Up on His Own Treatment Table
I am lying on a treatment table with an IV in one arm, a warm bag of hydration dripping slowly into my veins, the last of this week’s NAD+ and B12 already in me, and a machine humming beside my head. A nurse is running a suction device slowly across my stomach. Cold ultrasound gel — the stuff that helps the machine do its work — is spread across my love handles and a belly that, if I’m being honest, has gotten a good deal rounder since the day we opened Lior Luxe Studio Med Spa here in Roseville, California.
And somewhere around minute three of a thirty-minute treatment, one thought floats up through the hum of the machines:
How exactly did I get here?
Less than a year ago I sat in an office with big windows, looking out at rows of new and used cars, listening to a room full of people talking into cell phones, working car deals. That was my world for a long time. Now here I am — shirt off, gel on my belly, a belly I’m fairly sure Santa Clause would find familiar (the jury is still out on whether he’s real) — while Emily, our very capable registered nurse, makes another slow pass across my torso and reaches for more gel on a stomach that is, unfortunately, ticklish.
From the car business to the med spa business. It still surprises me most days. So let me back up and tell you how a guy like me ended up on this table.
Who I Am
I’m almost 50. Five foot eleven, 245 pounds, dry skin, and the full standard-issue collection of aches that show up right around this age whether you ordered them or not. I’m a former car guy who now co-owns a med spa. I am, in other words, about the last person who ever pictured himself in a place like this.
So how did I get here?
The car business has been in a slow free-fall. Electric vehicles have been sitting on dealership lots getting sunburned while the delivery trucks keep dropping off more of them every week. Nearly every manufacturer rolled the dice trying to fight for market share with Mr. Elon Musk. Elon didn’t exactly win those battles — but the dealerships across the country lost the war. Trying to move from one dealership to another for a management job felt close to impossible. And right as I started to seriously think about starting over as a salesman again, my phone rang.
It was my sister, Elizabeth.
For six or nine months she’d been hunting for a business our family could invest in — something that could bring in a steady monthly income for her and our families. I’d shot down just about every idea she brought me, mostly because none of them involved me actually rolling up my sleeves. This time was different. This one was an offer I couldn’t refuse: let’s open a med spa in Roseville, California.
Our mother had just sold hers. She’d moved to Las Vegas to consult on opening another one, but she was glad to lend us her advice — free of charge, one state away. And so Lior Luxe Studio Med Spa was born. My sister found a great spot on Eureka Road. Elizabeth has an incredible eye for design, and she made the place feel less like a medical office and more like a resort you’d actually want to escape to. Then we found our staff. This staff was much different than a car dealership: all women.
I now work in a woman’s world. For an average guy like me, that could be humbling. Some days it is.
But somewhere in that first month of obsessing over every detail of the place, I noticed something else — an opening. The same energy I used to pour into the car business — where I trained salespeople to stop manipulating customers into a sale and start helping them into the car they actually wanted — was the exact energy this industry was missing. More and more of our clients kept telling us the same story: other med spas simply weren’t listening to them. Their concerns, their goals — brushed right past. The other spas confused their customers’ goals with market trends. That’s just not a good way to do business.
Here’s a lesson I’ve now learned twice, in two very different industries: if you want to build a business you can run without ever glancing at your competition, just be different in a good way.
Why I’m Doing This
Since we opened on February 2nd, I’ve been a duck out of water. Ok, Fine — a fat duck out of water. I put on weight with every new obstacle and problem, and there were plenty of both. I tried to Krispy Kreme my way out of the stress, which works about as well as you’d think. Between the stretchy pants and the shirts that no longer button, my wife and kids started saying out loud what I’d been avoiding: they were worried about my health. My wife even suggested — gently — that maybe I should try some of the body contouring treatments we offer.
The thought of taking my shirt off in front of my own staff felt like a punishment they hadn’t earned.
And then one afternoon the phone rang. A very nice woman was calling with questions about our services. Now, I know our menu cold — I can quote it in my sleep. But she didn’t want the menu. She wanted to know what the treatments actually felt like. The client’s perspective. And sitting there, I realized I couldn’t give it to her. I took her name and number so one of our specialists could call her back.
Good answer for the business. But it exposed something. I was missing the single most valuable perspective there is — you, the client.
Caring about clients is the one thing I carried out of the car world that I’m genuinely proud of. And if I really meant it — if I truly cared about the people walking through our doors — then the only honest way to keep running this place with my sister was to stop watching from the sidelines. So, like a fat Olympic diver off the high board, I went headfirst into every service we offer.
The gel on my belly is a reminder of that decision.
Right about now the suction starts to get uncomfortable, and I do what any tough guy would do: I wince and complain. Emily just nods. “That’s how you know it’s working,” she says. I brace for more. The device works through lymphatic drainage — the idea is to get things moving — and it’s not a one-and-done treatment; we usually tell clients it takes at least a few sessions before results really start to show. I’m on minute five of thirty. Twenty-five to go. Oh boy.
The Whirlwind: The Last Six Weeks
Today’s table is really the finale of a wild six weeks. Let me rewind through it.
It started with Teresa’s newest facial — a microcurrent and lymphatic drainage treatment for the face, neck, and chest. I don’t know a single man in my life who’s had a facial, or at least would ever admit to it. But when Teresa finished, I understood the hype. It didn’t just make my face feel good. My whole head felt like it was floating somewhere up in the clouds. The medical-grade products she used seemed to sink right into my skin and leave me with the strange, wonderful sensation that I’d been issued a brand-new face.
Next came a NAD+ and B12 routine. NAD+ is very trendy right now, and I am not a man who chases trends. But the more I listened to our staff talk about it, the more curious I got. The short version, as it was explained to me: NAD+ is something our bodies carry more of when we’re young, and there’s a lot of interest in what it might do. Youth really is wasted on the young. Is it a miracle in a vial? I’ll give you my honest verdict in a future post — but I can already tell you what I’ve felt, and I’ll get to that in a second.
Then I got Tox’d.
During one of our Tox events — not really a party, but a day where we line up a lot of clients and offer a great price per unit — my staff more or less marched me into the injection room. They’d decided that a co-owner walking around with zero units in his face was just bad for morale. So I took 84 units: forehead, the “11s” between my eyebrows, and under the eyes. Most of it was uncomfortable. A little of it flat-out hurt. But when I look in the mirror now, I get it. I understand exactly why these treatments are as popular as they are.
Which brings us back to today — the big one. Body vacuum therapy. Suction in specific areas that move lymphatic areas around. Then EMS therapy, which contracts your muscles so hard it feels like you’ve done a thousand crunches without ever setting foot in a gym. My weekly NAD+ and B12, which have honestly become my favorite part of the routine. And a Premium Hydration IV to finish, because, as Emily put it, you want to be well-hydrated after any body work. I’ve noticed many small benefits of NAD as my memory has gotten sharper, my metabolism is starting to move slightly faster, and my overall energy is noticeably better. I’m sleeping a bit better. NAD has given me many small wins. The wins are stacking and I’m becoming a believer.
The body vacuum is done. Most of it was uncomfortable — the pain was more of a cramp than anything — and I took it like a real man. Which is to say I whined and complained the entire time, and the women around me scoffed at every last whine. Don’t they work for me? Sheesh.
EMS is next. The applicator feels heavy on my stomach — right about where a six-pack is currently drowning under an ocean of fat.
What’s Already Surprised Me
Here’s what nobody warned me about: the most powerful thing you can witness in this business is a good result. And that’s exactly what Emily pulled up on her phone.
The before-and-after photos started to show me what’s actually possible — not just for me, but for our clients and the goals they walk in with. The change across my belly and sides was genuinely noticeable. Now, she didn’t turn me super skinny in one session. That’s not how any of this works, and anyone who promises otherwise is selling you a bridge in Brooklyn. But I could suddenly see the road — what a series of sessions could really do. It’s not pseudo-science, but real results.
I laid there on Emily’s table thinking about all the clients who’ve teared up in that same table because they finally could fit into something they’d convinced themselves they never would.
And here’s the honest part: body contouring only works if you meet it halfway, with sensible eating and some movement. The good news for people like me is that you don’t have to punish yourself — no living at the gym, no extreme fasting. You could do those things and lose weight fast. But if you want weight loss you can actually keep, slow and steady is probably the smarter play. I’m choosing slow and steady. My knees voted, and they won.
EMS is done now. Walking out of the room, I can already feel the “crunches” settling into my abs. Not painful. Just… present. A reminder that something happened here today.
The Promise
So, here’s what this blog is going to be.
I’m writing to give you an honest account of one middle-aged man trying to reach his goals using the treatments on the menu at my own spa, Lior Luxe Studio Med Spa. I’m certain I’ll trip and fall along the way — probably in front of you — the same as some of you might. I want you to hear about the wins and the flops. I’ll tell you what worked, and I’ll tell you what to steer clear of because it caused me grief. All of it from the point of view of a guy who wandered into a brand-new world and is still figuring out where they keep the towels.
The man’s perspective. From the man in the med spa.
Come Along for the Ride
I’m looking forward to meeting you and to helping you on your own quest, whatever it looks like. I’m sure you’ve got a few questions about me and this journey — so feel free to reach out. I’ll share photos along the way, as honestly as I can manage.
If you’d like to hear about our monthly events — our Tox Parties, our NAD+ Events, other promotions and more — give us a call at (916) 633-7700. Come see what being genuinely listened to actually feels like.
A note before you go. This blog shares my personal experience as an individual client and co-owner of Lior Luxe Studio Med Spa. It is not medical advice, and it is not a promise of results. Every treatment described here was performed by licensed professionals under appropriate medical oversight. Every body is different — individual results vary, and some people may see little or no change. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Before starting any treatment, injectable, IV therapy, or weight-management plan, please consult a licensed medical provider about what is appropriate and safe for you.