Pathways to Wellness: Empowering Paths to Holistic Well-being with Carly and Julie

Join me on the latest episode of #TheAmberStittShow, where we dive into the fascinating world of wellness, business, and hair science with my friends and providers, Carly Vlachos and Julie Clarke. As part of my personal Wellness Alliance, Carly and Julie bring a unique perspective to the table, utilizing science and innovation to explore the realms of hair, skin, and nails.

In this captivating conversation, we'll explore the seamless integration of wellness, business, and hair science, and how these elements intertwine to shape our understanding of holistic well-being. Prepare to challenge your perspectives on health and wealth as we delve into innovative approaches and strategies.

Carly and Julie will share their personal insights and experiences, shedding light on their individual journeys in wellness and business, and how these paths have shaped their understanding of overall well-being. We'll uncover the powerful connections between physical health, personal wealth, and happiness, redefining our approach to these aspects of life.

Tune in to this enlightening and educational episode as we uncover the Pathways to Wellness, guided by Carly and Julie. They will share their expertise and wisdom, leading us toward a reimagined understanding of health, wealth, and happiness. 

Whether you're interested in exploring the fascinating world of hair science, seeking entrepreneurial inspiration, or simply looking to enhance your overall well-being, this episode offers valuable insights and thought-provoking ideas. Prepare to expand your horizons and embark on a transformative journey toward a more integrated and fulfilling life.

Don't miss out on this captivating conversation!

To learn more about Carly and the NHL Team:

Website: www.nhlma.com
Follow on Instagram: @nhlma.med
Contact: education@nhlma.com for inquiries 
For complimentary consultations, call 602-238-2355

"NHLMA: We fill in the gaps with hair, skin, and wellness."

Transcript

Amber Stitt 0:09
Hello, and welcome to the Amber Stitt Show. I am your host, Amber Stitt, and I welcome my friends, Carly and Julie, we've made it Welcome to the show!

Carly Vlachos 0:19
Thanks for having us!

Amber Stitt 0:20
We've planned this for a little while, at least in my head. I've planned it for quite some time I talk about it, we actually make it happen today. But the real kind of backstory behind pathways is really putting together some measures and some steps so that we can handle life with resilience. And ironically, it's we're trying to get together today we've had to reschedule. We've had life happen. We've had tech issues, and we make it work. So thank you for being part of my tribe of you know, we're just gonna get it done. Yeah, whatever life throws us, we're gonna figure it out. So before we dive into what I want to call a Pathways to Wellness series, we have three segments we're going to do together this first one I really want to use as a foundational episode to explain what Carly does what Julie does, how you've partnered, so I really want to go and dive into how you started in this business, Carly, and I've known you for over a decade, we have we were friends first. Luckily, you did all these other things to then help be part of my we'll call it Health Alliance, really part of the network. And then I meet Julie, so I was lucky to have more support for my wellness journey. So let's start with you, Carly. And then we're gonna loop Julian, I want to know a little bit about how you got into this. And then how you partnered up with Julie. Yeah,

Carly Vlachos 1:35
so I don't think anybody grows up wondering, you know, am I going to get into hair loss, I think that's something that you either experience, and then you get into it, or you you know, you see a lot of people who are experiencing something as difficult as hair loss and want to go and help people. But my background is working in dermatology, where we had the forefront of working with a hair loss specialist doctor who started the A BHRS, which is the American Board of hair restoration surgery. So I was able to work under him for years, and have done a lot of clinicals. And we were able to really look at different ways to help people with hair loss. What I found was that we didn't have a lot of ways for women for hair loss, and we didn't have a lot of ways to help with cancer patients and kids. And that was really something that was a passion for me. And so I started to work with an oncology group called Virginia piper over here, and I did a lot of clinicals on them to see really after cancer, you know, people obviously, you lose hair when you have cancer. But what about five, six years? Why do you still have hair loss? And really, I got so busy with that I started my own practice. And that's when it just kind of morphed into something more. And then you know, not only do we deal with hair loss, but really we started to dive into that wellness arena. Because really, yes, you need to have scalp health, right, we need to work on that soil. But so much comes from different parts of our body that can accelerate the hair loss on top. And that's really where I get to work with Julie, which she's been the most phenomenal partner to work with. She's so knowledgeable. And so many people just want to put a bandaid on the problem. They want to just write you a prescription give you a topical, not really look at the root the issue. And that's really where we want to work with certain providers to look at the whole body as a system. And I really love helping people build their confidence back up about themselves. A lot of people come to me thinking that is this a vain thing? I have hair loss? Maybe I'm you know, 4045 50 and older? should I even be worried about this? And the answer is, if it bothers you, we were meant to have our hair. We're meant to have our health, why not have the best that we can have if you can do that. And so we really pride ourselves in just educating people and helping people learn on the best ways to have better hair and a better quality of life. So how did you find Julie, we were doing some types of hair sampling to figure out what was going on. So 17 years ago, when I started in hair, it was really just people 55 and older. Now my average age is about 12 to 40. Okay, so we still deal with all age ranges. But that is really the bulk of it. So it has tremendously had a swing to the younger ages. Why? Well, we know exposures foods we eat, everything has changed from even 10 years ago, five years ago. And so we were doing some testing and really finding some good links. But we were sending it overseas to get this tested. And we knew that the quality of the test could not how good if we had to send it over to Europe and it was not in a stable environment getting shipped over there. So it was very helpful, but we knew there had to be something more. And so then we ended up finding out about this company and we met Julie and just fell in love with her and she takes care of the United States. Well she ended up moving to Arizona and we're like you have to work for us. Like I know that you are a vendor but we also want you to see our clients because she has the care You can teach anybody about hair loss and procedures, but you cannot teach somebody to have heart. And she goes the extra mile. And that's the difference. She will dig, she will do whatever she can to find out the answers. And I love that about her. And that's who we want to work with, because so many people are always within range with their labs, or REITs, kind of placated by their doctors, and they're not really getting any answers. And they're feeling like they're going crazy. Yeah. And we really pride ourselves in really trying to do some digging and finding out further research on what's going on. All right, Julie,

Julie Clarke 5:34
well, I was super lucky, I actually started using this technology about seven years ago, I'm a Registered nutritionist, and grounded into my practice to just really dig into the details as to what was affecting individuals. So because we all know that nutrition is important, and everyone has that foundational understanding. But one of the things that was really missing for me, and so much of what I was looking at was the environmental aspect of it now understanding exactly how those environmental issues are actually impacting an individual's health. And their significant. And so I went and searched for his technology that allowed me to see all of those pieces. And this particular technology allows us to do that get a window into all of those different elements that are affecting the hair and skin. And when Carly learned about, you know, this particular technology, and she reached out and we paired up, and you know, everything she said about me is echoed right back to her. Because when you find someone who so shares your belief in genuine interest in helping people, that's the goal of what you do, everybody pulls out all the stops, we try to uncover each and everything that could have even a real impact on this case, you have the individual stare, loss, or lack of growth or what have you. And so I kind of came in to kind of help get things started within her business and never looked back. It's four years later, and we're still working together. And I brought her back every time. But, you know, here's

Carly Vlachos 6:58
what I love is that we're always looking at if there's somebody else that can help in this area, you know, our goal is to create a story that we know, okay, they need to go see an endocrine or they need to go see their naturopathic doctor for this or their DERM. Our goal is that this is a one stop shop, we can help you or if we can't help you, we have a network of the best providers that are going to give you the same similar care that we will, that can uncover that. And I think that's what's different, too, is I think a lot of people just want to keep it in and try. Well, when it comes to hair especially, we have a finite number of hairs. And we don't have a lot of time. So as soon as you notice that you have a problem, you've already had 50% of the hair change. Look up there. So it's really important that you get right on it so that we can figure out what's going on we pride ourselves in is doing things as holistically as possible. And that's why we test the gut, we test what's going on with your immune system to figure out what ways you can take away some foods or integrate some foods. We could be selling supplements all day long. That's really not our goal. We're really trying to help people holistically and then people realize that and really, we end up having better business because people know we are truly their advocate. And then they refer all their clients to us. So it really behooves people just to be honest, loving and try to really get to that root of the problem whether that's your skin, nails, hair,

Amber Stitt 8:26
anything. Okay, so a couple of things, going back to the overall concept of wellness and wellness. So in my world, the podcast, the five steps that I have developed that goes in conjunction with my clients, but just everyone's life is to have some financial freedom through these steps and resilience. As I mentioned, the original word wealth actually comes from I wrote it down here. It comes from wealth, welfare, wealth, welfare, and well-being so wellness is coming from well-being, we can have some wealth in our lives. It's not just about money. So, Carly, I want to give you a little bit of a shout-out here. And Julie did this as well. But there's something about when we first I think it was back in 2020. You and I are out we're having a spa day, believe it or not. I think we were at dinner. And we were talking about what we do in business. If people this COVID thing is new for us. And we're talking about what are these companies going to do and businesses do and I see people I see patients we can sell products online. But what should we do to help people get that mindset in business? What should we do to overcome obstacles? And so you're actually the reason I want to bring this up is you might not have known but I've recently had a one-year anniversary of the show back in March of 2023. We're almost at 100 episodes for the podcast. But you were actually and Julie to you're part of this. That workshop that we did at NHL in Scottsdale was actually the beginning. It's not the same steps anymore. It's been revamped. That was the origin of all of this and it really comes back to the original thought process. So you've mentioned some things about it, it's almost like you have this specialty, but then you have other strategic partners in the process for that diagnosis. Plus, you're triaging with other practices to find an answer, not just go within the normal ranges. So when you have this community of people that are like-minded, that look out, and really, we're empowering each other. So as females, we have done this, I know that it's not just about females, you incorporate males too, but you are a supporter of my business, as well as Julie. And that's what's turned into this pathways of peak performance. And today's episode, and our other ones is really around this focusing on talents, which is like the original step number one, you're doing what you love, and then you're bringing everyone else along for the ride in their own specialty in their own way. And that makes this so much fun, it can be exhausting, and there are a lot of long days, but it doesn't feel like work when you got this team of people, but then we have friends too. So I just wanted to share that for the audience. For the listeners, if you're not really feeling dialed in with yourself. There's some personal development tools that are also on the podcast already. But that is why I want this episode to be out there and living because when I started my journey back in my early 30s, that we were working on my thyroid, then I met Carly. And I learned there's more to it. And we're going to talk more about the science and technology that Julie provides in another episode. And we're going to talk more about hair loss and science in our other episode, our third one, but for today, I just wanted to celebrate the fact that we're all supporting each other. And it's a lot of fun. And really part of having this network of people is we can help so many people, and you just never know where that's going to take us. So anything you want to share as far as community building, or even something in your lifetime, that's really inspired you as a business owner, and things have taken shape a little differently over the last 20 years, you weren't always a business owner. Right? It was consulting.

Carly Vlachos 11:50
And I think to your point, we have to learn to pivot, you know, we live in a time of unforeseen occurrences and we have to pivot our business and the people that pivoted the quickest did well, and so it was looking at your business if you had where you were in a salon or you had something where you were literally talking to people and they were coming in your office all of a sudden that was gone. So how do you then do your tele, you know, consulting or seeing somebody? How do you insure yourself so that when this happens, again, you have some policies in place to help you it was just looking at other ways that you could get streamlined so that we're not linear thinking with our business, that we have more legs to our business, more ways to get revenue in so that you do not have all of your, you know, everything in one pot, so to speak. And that's what I learned was that I needed to make sure that I had a lot of different revenue streams coming in. It could not just be hair loss any longer. You know, I looked at it as hair loss. Yes, that's singular, but what else goes with my business? Okay, I do regenerative work that works for aesthetics to pay. Now, what about a salon? Well, everybody who has hair loss needs certain things for that. So all of a sudden, now you have all these legs of business. Now I trained physicians and RNs, they come from all over the country. And we teach them we do two-day courses. So we teach them business. What does your website look like? How are you getting revenue in with product sales, your website should be able to buy whatever you're selling right on your website, and you should be able to make money 24 hours a day without having someone call. So helping people and partnering with them to teach them how to build their businesses. Because we don't know when something like this will happen again, doesn't even matter. It's just there's this sense to be multifaceted so that you can be more successful in your business.

Amber Stitt 13:47
I'm in an industry that can be sometimes antiquated and old, large firms and financial services. And there's a lot of us that want to shake it up. But back to even in your world, Julie and Carly, like I think that you have seen some physician practices don't evolve, they don't innovate recurrently I know you're trying new things all the time you bring in new technology, but outside of products and packaging them and making sure you like the ingredients, bringing them into your practice. But I know that you'll go out there and teach and be almost surprised that some things are just not evolving.

Carly Vlachos 14:17
Oh, I mean, you still have people who aren't collecting emails or they're not utilizing email blasts. And this is not about doing sales. This is about whether are you being educational and see I think that's where you're very different is your right life insurance is boring, the boring to people, right? It's like you're making it fun, though. You do social media, who does social media on that kind of stuff? You're doing podcasts, you're teaching people, you are the next wave of what insurance will be like, not these older men and things like this where you're just going and getting it and you never hear from them again, except for renewal time. You're constantly putting it in front of our faces. What's the latest up there? And you're just brought I'm casting it so that everybody can learn, even if they have their own agents. And I think that's what it is, is about, let's be a community, and teach, even if you're never going to get that business, because the end of the day, you're going to want to work with that person that's innovative, that's putting it out there. Because you're gonna look more knowledgeable than anybody else, because nobody else is doing this on social media. And fortunately, people define success with your social media. It just is what it is. That's the day and age we're in. And I think you're doing a fantastic job. And I'm more interested in things because of it. And I can see how much you've changed. And I know that you've changed other people in the way that they're doing their business to

Amber Stitt 15:37
Well, I appreciate those nice words. But yeah, it was kind of your fault. You know? Yeah. Julie,

Carly Vlachos 15:42
well, you know, something else is so important. And you both touched on this a little bit throughout the conversation. But that is the concept of networking is not new, it's obviously been around for decades. You know, it started with the old Chamber of Commerce and all those different things that existed way back when, but the reality is, in order to be able to stay in front of all of the different changes that aren't inevitable, they're always going to happen, regardless of something like COVID being thrown into the mix, they're always going to be there. And the best way for us to advance our business is to surround ourselves with individuals that have complementary tools that we can use both to refer clients and patients to so that their services more robust, but also to learn about different ways in which we can just enhance our own offering. And I think that's one of the things, you know, Carly, I've watched her, you know, through these years, and she's done so well, you know, bringing in IV drips, bringing in all of the metastatic aspects of health and wellness, to complement and augment all of those services that the clients and the patients that come into NHL mean, again, the concept of networking is not new. But if you reach out purposely, and find those individuals that have those things that will you know, be that referral source for you, but also help you be thinking about how to expand your own offering. I think that's where we all grow. And we all learn that way. It's fascinating to me to go into some of these conferences, and speak with medical professionals and see that, you know, someone who's been in a traditional practice now is bringing in something that 10 years ago, they would have never touched, because it's just not the traditional medical way, you know, don't be in western medicine, they kind of approach to things but they too are seeing that, you know, the days of old when you know, you just sit in your office and see patients and then go home at the end of the day and not have to innovate not have to be creative. And what you're doing is long gone. Yeah. And maybe that was one of the outside benefits that came from COVID people did have to share. Yeah and I know people who are having a problem just even doing telehealth, and I always think you know, even if I am in Scotts DME provider, almost 40% of our business is still done out of state. Yeah,

Amber Stitt 17:52
I was going to talk about that. So even before COVID You had people flying in to see you

Unknown 17:56
Yes, even more. So now. Because we have such outreach and our social media and everything. So then it was kind of thinking, Well, what can we do for packages for people and I tell this to you got to hairstylist, you got to have somebody here this lives locally, but I was having them send hair samples or pictures so that I could customize, you have to just be creative on what you could do virtually. And when you start getting in that mindset, it really just bubbles forth to all the other departments that you have. And I think a big problem that you see with medical offices that you'll have people open up, they get all the lasers, they get all the big expensive toys, but they don't have the clients to support that. You know, this is a marathon. This is not a sprint, you want to grow at a pace that's sustainable, and that you can continue to give that great client experience. And like Julie said, keep evolving. You don't want to be stagnant. You need to constantly be looking at ways that you can better the clinic make it fresh, move things around so that your clients don't get bored too.

Amber Stitt 18:55
Well. The wellness space can be overwhelming I know that I geek out on this stuff and so after seeing you present you and Julie I just loved it. I said everyone needs to know about this and the everyone needs to know what I've also tried because I feel when I'm having an off day, I can usually go back and say is there something else medically because if there's not everything's checked out and I've met with Julie usually once a quarter then there might be there's a stressor in my life and maybe I need to have a conversation maybe it's something else that I need to delegate out it helps me keep more well rounded because things can happen in life and we can't control all the stress or being sick or things that can happen with families and so they get so important I do want to touch on before we wrap up this segment here is to stay motivated and stay well mental wellness to Are there anything I know that Carla you've done things on your team to keep people motivated whether I believe you do some business analysis so I kind of want to go into I know I have some certain go to things that help me have more personal awareness and working on personal development. You obviously have this mentorship, mentorship happening and As you guys hang out together, go to conference you teach, and then you're also seeing others. So both you and Julie, I'd like to know is there anything that you do that's special to you, that helps keeps you motivated, keeps you on top of your personal development.

Unknown 20:12
So I think for me, I still in terms of why it keeps fresh, like my business is I don't usually see clients as much as I used to. And I want to always see clients, because I feel like that keeps me fresh, and it ignites that excitement, again, to be able to, and I need to make sure that I'm always doing every different department so that I can keep what my team is going through. I did check ins with my team every single week, that is something huge, I literally don't ever reschedule is our Monday meetings to see how else is doing. Let's go through any concerns as we go through customer feedback. I think that gives them an opportunity. This is not the Carly's show at national hair loss. It is it isn't everybody, you know, show I see things totally different than half of my other people, we have all different demographics. So it's really, I love hearing what they have as far as feedback and how we can grow. And that gives them some ownership of the business too, and gets them excited. And I do you know, every six months to a year where we do some personal development with each of our employees, and it really gives me an opportunity to see where they think that they're doing well, where they feel like they think that they could do better, and what opportunities they have for growth thing. And I wish I could do it even more often. But as your team grows it, it is hard to do that, but as much as you can having that touching. And again, if I can fill up their cup, they're filling up. And that's what keeps me going. I think though, as women, we tend to internalize stress, and we don't necessarily feel stressed. And that's where we deal a lot with that at our clinic is like something that you dealt with that we'll talk about in a different episode is how you had flare ups because of internal stress and things else that could be happening. And so we have to learn how to manage that. And there's different coping mechanisms to do that. And that's really directly linked with what we deal with us. A lot of times it's anxiety, stress and depression because of what we're dealing with.

Amber Stitt 22:11
And, Julie, before you go there, I wanted to say that Carly, there is something to be said about that. It's like it's kind of like when I went through fertility and hair loss. For women, it's almost like everyone assumes it's just a guy's thing. And kids don't have this problem. And the more you talk about and have some fellowship, when the time is right for people, there is that strength of the back, going back to network and community, you have this team this alliance like I call like an alliance, I have that with my financial strategic partners, you have that within your team, and then your extended providers and people that you were referred to, I think that we're internalizing a lot women might just get things done. So the more we can talk about it and do little pieces of taking action, if we can, that's just like we can get started with just some little pieces here. And I know that your team has helped me with that. We'll talk about it more. But I just want to pause there and say that a lot of people are going through things that we might not be knowing because we don't share that often. Because we feel like that might be a weakness at times or maybe feel vulnerable. But there are so many resources now whether it's in person or not. So I just wanted to stop there and say that No,

Carly Vlachos 23:11
I love that. And I think the more that as business owners, it is hard to talk to people that maybe don't have something like this on their shoulders, maybe they're an employee somewhere, it's different when you are you know, this is on your shoulders, it's a lot of stress. So having a network of like-minded people that who're in the same type of career, and bouncing that off and having coffee once a while. That is something I have to work on. I do not take enough time to ever stop and have that downtime with friends. And I know that that's something I have to work on. Because I know that that would relieve some to be able to bounce ideas because you know iron sharpens iron. And I love hearing all the great ideas and then I can incorporate that and vice versa. So yeah, it is something that we have to like you almost have to just put in the books and do it ahead of time. Yeah, right, Julie, we had a conference in Miami to finally have that glass of wine.

Julie Clarke 24:05
Willing, you know, there's a couple of things that you both kind of touched on. And I think they're so important. And one is Carly mentioned that she wants to continue to see clients, I actually have the benefit of wearing kind of two hats because I work with Carly's team, you know, one day a week going in and seeing patients and clients and really being able to still serve people directly with you know, the hair analysis and the inflammation that is a result of that report. But I also kind of my their responsible is I'm the US distributor for the syllabi and technology together and my business partner. And so I have the benefit of having that touch point with clients and still being able to experience that so that I can then take all of the experiences that I have and relay that the needs the anxiety, the stress associated with that responsibility out to those other providers that I work with. I also have the ability need to hear from all those different individuals and take in best practices so that I can then share that with other individuals across the country. So when I hear about something that's working using social media, using a networking thing, going to a type of conference that really has a dramatic interest in this technology, I can then share that information out with the broader group across the US and Canada, let them know how they can then, you know, take that information and grow their business. So it's that combination of that personal touch, you know, with those individual client experiences, and then blending that with that, that networking has constantly been talking about, and being able to use those, you know, nuggets of information, those things that have really benefited others, and people. You know, it surprises me all the time, you know, especially with Carly in the academy group that she has. And I hear people say all the time, why would she share all of the information that she's accumulated through these years? Why would she be so willing to share all of your secrets, essentially, and currently is a very, you know, for those that don't know where she's a very giving generous person to a fault, actually, she wants so much to share that information. And she doesn't view it as giving away secrets to the competition, she knows that there is such a dramatic need out there. And the more people that can be serving that need, the better we all are. And that's I think so much of what occurs in the health and wellness space is people genuinely want to help other people. And if they see something that's working, and they see something that has really, you know, served that constituency, well, they're going to want to share that information and make sure that others you know, from a client perspective can benefit from

Amber Stitt 26:42
it, Julie, that is something that pops up in my industry, why would I share with another financial planner insurance broker what to do? Well, they can't replace you, everyone brings their unique gift, you don't always mesh with every personality. But if we can affect society and make people better, can you imagine that. And I know that you work and play in the sandbox with other people. I mean, really, after about a decade in my business, it was really until I worked closely with some of my partners that always work with other advisors, I share so many clients with other people. And so obviously, that's what you guys are doing to Julie, I don't want to forget to say this about you. But for people that don't really know you've created this Wednesday that works with you with car late, but you have this other piece, you've built your business to work for you on the days that you want and with communicating how you would prefer. So I don't want to gloss over that. And I know Carla, you've done that too. But for those of you that are thinking of the pivot or adding something while you have the basic one revenue stream, start dabbling. And I think a lot of times we say stay in your lane, but that's why I like the word pathways is once you know your niche of you what you love to do, then you can branch off on different paths as things evolve. As you get more expertise as you become smarter and you have more wisdom and things can really happen. So I always thought it was really neat that you can partner with Carly, but you also have your other world too. But there's a conjunction there with the combination of things. So I always know Wednesdays are for Julie when I need to schedule.

Carly Vlachos 28:11
Well, that's the thing I was just teaching I was teaching in Miami about a business for providers and being an expert in your field before you divert to different programs. Are you an expert? Do you know this inside and out? Does your team know? What is your main way? If you're a hormone expert, great. Why are you buying lasers and everything else until you have that dialed in. And I think that's what we have to do is be the best and then get as much knowledge as you can. And then where it makes sense. Add that in haven't really done a great job

Amber Stitt 28:43
about Yep, so I think this is a perfect place to land, I really want to dive into some juicy scientific, I don't know really how to explain it. So I'm gonna leave it to you, ladies for our next episode. But I love all this information. And I want people to know that there's things out there that they can do. And I've referred friends and family, and even my husband's a client, and you've really affected so many people that I know. So I'm excited to dive in more. But I really wanted to have this foundational piece so that people know you. But if you are looking at your own business, whether it's different than ours or not, if you're not really sure get out there and start networking with people that are like minded or beyond in a different you know, capacity. So you can start learning from them, you might find some inspiration because I know that you ladies have done that for me. Even within a few years, a lot has happened and a lot has changed. So I feel like it was kind of cool to do this series after almost that year anniversary because you guys were instrumental and just how to frame the framework having people have pathways to peak performance. So thank you for being here.

Unknown 29:44
Well look at this swing. I mean, we're in wellness and you're in insurance and everything if we can help each other and we're in totally different spectrums of our career, but we've been able to learn so much about business together. It just shows how much you can partner with people. have all different types of backgrounds.

Amber Stitt 30:02
I love that. Well, thanks, ladies. I'll see in the next episode. Thanks.