Before You Add That New Service: Lessons from Costly Expansion Mistakes
Oct 21, 2025The idea seems perfect: add a new service, serve more patients, increase revenue. But between the exciting vision and successful reality lies a minefield of costly mistakes that most wellness practice owners only discover after it's too late.
Kendall and Anna pull back the curtain on their expansion experiences, sharing both spectacular failures and hard-won successes. The lessons they reveal could save you thousands of dollars and months of frustration—if you're willing to learn from their mistakes.
Kendall opens with a cautionary tale about adding aesthetics to her practice. The story begins with good intentions—wanting to support a team member's career dreams—but reveals a critical error: "If you're adding a new modality, complete new modality to your team that you've never had before, you should hire someone who is very experienced in that modality." She didn't follow this rule, and the consequences were expensive.
The timing couldn't have been worse—rolling out aesthetics in January 2020, just months before COVID shut everything down. But as Kendall admits, even without the pandemic, "it still wouldn't have worked." Why? Because she wasn't prepared as a leader: "I personally, as the leader, wasn't prepared to offer this service in my company. I didn't know enough about it... And if you, as the leader, don't know enough about it and you can't even speak to it and sell it, how can you expect your team to do that?"
This is the trap many practice owners fall into—assuming that hiring the right practitioner is enough. But expansion requires the owner's deep understanding and commitment, not just enthusiasm.
The financial realities are another shock. When discussing aesthetics costs, Kendall reveals the hidden expenses most don't anticipate: "You can be looking at five to $10,000 buy in for a skincare line." And that's for the holistic approach—med spa equipment runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Anna's experience adding massage therapy to her acupuncture practice reveals different challenges: "I don't think I realized how little I know about massage until I hired or added it to the practice... there are so many modalities within massage... and there are so many preferences of individual practitioners." She discovered that different modalities come from completely different work cultures and carry different expectations about scheduling, autonomy, and practice management.
This cultural mismatch between modalities is something few practice owners anticipate. As Kendall notes, "We have no idea what the other work environments are like that that modality typically works in." A massage therapist coming from a spa environment or an acupuncturist from a community health clinic will have vastly different expectations than what you might offer.
The hosts outline a methodical approach that takes at least three months: pause to examine your why, run the numbers thoroughly, create a realistic timeline, hire experienced practitioners, practice the new service before launching, and develop a strategic marketing plan. As Kendall emphasizes, "Step one is to pause and really consider why you are wanting to add the service or the modality. What problem is it solving for your clients? Is it in alignment with your brand?"
One of the most valuable insights is about practicing new services before launch: "You are literally you and additional team members are practicing how that session goes with the new modality, new clinician." This step, often skipped for non-hands-on modalities, can reveal gaps in the client experience before paying patients discover them.
The episode balances realism with encouragement. Yes, expansion is complex and costly. Yes, you'll make mistakes. But with proper preparation and the right approach, those new services can transform your practice and serve your community in powerful new ways.
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About Anna Rudel
Anna Rudel, L. Ac is the owner and founder of Lokahi Acupuncture Clinic in San Jose California, founded in 2003. Anna is a master organizer and clinician, and as a Coach she specializes in working with Clinic Owners in the state of California, and Acupuncturists and Acupuncture Clinic Owners, or groups wanting to add Acupuncture worldwide, as well as teams that need support with employee retention and satisfaction. Born in the UK, Anna has traveled extensively in Asia and now has a thriving multi-practitioner clinic in the US!
Anna's Website and Links
- Website: https://lokahiacupuncture.com/
- Learn Group Coaching: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/group-coaching
- For info about Individual Coaching: https://www.wellnesscentercreators.com/individual-coaching
About Kendall Hagensen
Kendall is a Somatic Mental Health Therapist, Multidisciplinary Clinic Owner and Business Coach. She specializes in, and is passionate about, working with healthcare professionals to create the businesses of their dreams. Big goals always have a psychological component beneath the surface, so Kendall uses her background in Somatic Psychotherapy and EMDR Therapy mixed with Business Coaching tools to help clients develop a healthy relationship with their business and their strength as a leader.
As someone who lives with a chronic illness herself, Kendall feels that health happens best within community, which is why she takes a holistic, integrative, and collaborative wellness approach to her personal and professional life.
Kendall’s Web/Social Links