Inside and Out with Shawn Simono

Join Kosta and his guest: Shawn Simono, Owner and Founder of Fire and Ice Cryo Med Spa.

In this Episode: It’s the summer of Barbie and I think that comes with a few conversations about beauty standards we’ve swept under the rug for too long. As someone on the medical side of beauty, what do you wish women knew? How has your perception of health and beauty changed since you opened Fire and Ice? Is there anything you wish you’d known in the beginning? Why is there still a stigma around Botox/injectables/fillers, etc. when so many people (both men and women) use them?   

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is recorded in Cookeville, TN.

Find out more about Shawn and Fire and Ice  Cryo Med Spa:
https://fireicemedspa.com/
https://www.instagram.com/shawnirene/
https://www.instagram.com/fireicecryo/

Find out more about Kosta Yepifantsev:
https://kostayepifantsev.com/

Transcript

Shawn Simono: 0:01

My motto really is it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside if you're sick on the inside, who cares, right? And same thing if you're feeling great on the inside, but you're self conscious on the outside, you know there's just not balanced there, you're not at your best.

Morgan Franklin: 0:16

Welcome to Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev, a podcast on parenting business and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you thoughtful conversation, making your own path to success,challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better together. Here's your host, Kosta Yepifantsev.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 0:34

Hey, y’all it’s Kosta! Today, I’m here with my guest Shawn Simono, Owner and Founder of Fire and Ice Cryo Med Spa. Shawn, when I started the research for this episode, the first thing I noticed is Fire and Ice has a perfect 5-star rating on Google with over 220 reviews. First of all, congratulations! Making everyone happy in this day and age is basically impossible, and second, what’s your secret?

Shawn Simono: 1:02

Well, thank you, first of all, absolutely. And I do keep track of those Google reviews and affirmation is definitely my love language. So if we were to get a bad one, it certainly hurts my feelings. But I think the main thing and keeping people happy is honestly just caring is making sure that when people come into my spa, that they're having an experience as well as a service. So I always tell my ladies at the spa, I'm like, no matter what's going on our lives, the world is crazy. This is supposed to be a safe haven. This is supposed to be an escape from what's out there. And so no matter what's going on in our life, there has to be a sense of peace when they come in. And I think people can feel that and they can feel that we genuinely feel like we're making a difference in their lives. And I think that all conveys over

Kosta Yepifantsev: 1:47

now. Did you have a business background growing up? Or did you have you ever run any other businesses other than fire? Nice?

Shawn Simono: 1:54

No, it's my first one. Well, I take that back. I did have a very small business

Kosta Yepifantsev: 1:59

lemonade stand.

Shawn Simono: 2:01

I probably did when I was a kid. I can imagine myself as a little entrepreneur with lemonade slinger you know, I did have a small business and I often forget about it. But I was a birth doula. So a certified birth doula. And it was called labor of love. You know, just a little play on words there, which it truly is a labor of love. So shout out to all the birth doulas out there. And so I did that, but it was very low skill. Okay. Very located.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 2:25

What's your background in prior to opening fire? Nice. What did you do?

Shawn Simono: 2:28

I've done a little bit of everything. I like it. Yes. And so I've been a stay at home mom, I was a banker for seven years. So I felt like that really helped me with finances and being able to set myself up to invest in things as far as the business. Before fire and ice. I actually managed a med spa. So I transitioned from being a birth doula, which I loved because I actually got to help women. And just a little bit of my background, I was raised by my dad. So I was not very trusting of women to to be frank. And when I had my last two children, I had them naturally in isolation. Thank you, I felt so empowered by that I was like, I am freaking to sheara. It was like such a confidence boost that I was like, I want other women to feel that, like it is so beautiful and so empowering. And so I was like, How can I do that? And I looked at becoming a certified birth doula, which I did. But in order to do that, you have to be so intimate and vulnerable with women, you, you have to be sure. So I found in doing that, that it was very healing with my own perception of women, because I had to let my defenses down in order for them to be vulnerable with me. So to me, it was very beautiful, very healing. And so I found myself wanting to do something else that involved working with women. Also, just to kind of help heal my heart as well.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 3:54

Yeah, well, when you started fire and ice in 2018, it wasn't just to open another health spa, you had a goal to provide better health and relief to guests, one of those guests being your dad who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, right? How do spa therapies help with disorders like these,

Shawn Simono: 4:12

you hit the nail on the head, we are a med spa, but I also wanted the health and wellness to be incorporated. My motto really is it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside if you're sick on the inside, who cares? Right? And same thing if you're feeling great on the inside, but you're self conscious on the outside, you know, there's just not balanced there. You're not at your best so with my dad, I would notice the days where I could tell that he was hurting because he does have the rheumatory and he would be crabby or you know and if you've ever met my dad, he's like the best he's we call him puppet. Everybody calls him Papa. He's just the sweetest thing. And so I would research just different alternatives other than medicine, that can bring some relief and cryotherapy and infrared saunas were one of the number one things for pain relief. So Have they actually helped to lower inflammation in the body as saunas can help detox the body of like heavy metals such as mercury and lead. And in the meantime, too, while you're doing the cryotherapy, it's also releasing serotonin in their brain. So it helps with, you know, the depression that can come along with feeling, you know, terrible Sunday. So it also helps with that,

Kosta Yepifantsev: 5:20

I completely resonate with all of that, because I am one of those types of people that I don't like to take medications, and I have a sauna in my home. And especially like, after a long day, when you're really tired, and you want to get a good night's sleep. There's nothing like sitting in a sauna and just sweating before you go to bed. You know, I mean, it's for sure next level. And I'll tell you, I've done cryo twice, and it does elevate your mood.

Shawn Simono: 5:49

It works we've tested on teenagers, and the moms are calm, and they're like you're right, fixed on Retta.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 5:55

And so you do IV therapy as well, right. And so talk a little bit about what type of services you offer with regards to IV therapy. I'm fascinated by it, I go to a place in Mount Juliet, because I wasn't aware that you did IV therapy. But now I know where I'm going, talk a little bit about the services and how this type of therapy can improve people's lives and offer more of a holistic type of medicine.

Shawn Simono: 6:18

Yeah, so unfortunately, you know, nowadays, we're all on the run, we're eating food that is not giving us the nutrients we need, even the best of us that are trying to eat better, you know, your gut destroys a lot of the nutrients that you're getting. So the alternative to a healthy lifestyle, or in addition to I should say, to healthy lifestyles, also vitamin supplementation, so that in the form of IV therapy, it's going straight into your bloodstream. So that way you get more absorption, right? than you would if you were just taking a multivitamin every day. So they're really great. We have the Myers cocktail, we have recovery and the cosmetics so it just depends on what your needs are, which vitamins you're gonna get.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 6:59

Is it expensive, no, really,

Shawn Simono: 7:02

I guess expensive is relative, right? Or whoever you're speaking to, but we tried to keep our prices very competitive, and we want people to use our services so it doesn't do anyone any good if they cannot use them. So the Myers cocktail, you're looking at 129 for a full bag with your vitamins. And we are actually about to be running a special this month for the month of August so stay tuned for that and it's going to include the vitamin therapy for back to school and you know, for the tech kids and as well as the mamas

Kosta Yepifantsev: 7:33

and so for example, I used to get sick often and then it's not really fair to say that I didn't get sick during the pandemic because everything was you know, perfectly cleaned and you know, they literally sprayed Lysol everywhere like he left the building and they just sprayed Lysol after you, you know your aura got lice hauled up. And I'll tell you, so I was expecting to start getting more and more sick. And since I've been doing the the Myers bag, but I think it's like vitamin B and vitamin C and vitamin D anywhere, there's tons of vitamins in there. And then the glutathione is a liver detox and, and it also offers anti inflammatory treatments. And so coupled together, I knock on wood have not gotten sick all year. And I'm expecting to keep it that we now don't have to travel to Mount Juliet to do it. So I'm very excited about that. Yeah,

Shawn Simono: 8:21

they definitely boost your immune system. We like to tell people if they're going out of state or they're traveling going to be in large groups of people, it's great to get one beforehand. I personally, I have suffered with migraines, and luckily it's not a lot of them. But I'll get ocular migraines where I'll actually go blind and one of my eyes, and so I can feel them coming on because your eyes will start to see you'll start to see sparkles. And if I can catch it quick enough and get an IV therapy, it will not come on and that I mean, I would pay $1,000 to not show

Kosta Yepifantsev: 8:53

what what type of IV therapy do you get

Shawn Simono: 8:57

the glutathione and it just

Kosta Yepifantsev: 8:59

gets migraines often. So that's why I asked and it's just it's debilitating. It is

Shawn Simono: 9:03

it really is. I've only had six my whole life and they've been in the course since I've started fire and ice just such an ironic thing that yes, it really does help but I do not wish them on anyone so much grace to her.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 9:20

Well, folks, it's the summer of Barbie and I think that comes with a few conversations about beauty standards. We've swept under the rug for far too long as someone on the medical side of beauty What do you wish women knew?

Shawn Simono: 9:32

I wish that they knew that it is okay to invest in themselves. I tell women all the time I say it's nothing for us to spend 20,000 on our kitchen and there's nothing ever said there's no judgment with that. But goodness forbid especially in the south you do something you fine tune something or you're insecure about something and you address that I feel like there is still a lot of stigma surrounded in in the beauty industry. So I will Just that women knew that it is okay to just critique a couple little things to just fix little things that if you're insecure about our goal at Byron eyes is to never change anybody. And we're never going to say, hey, you should do this, or you need this. We're not there to create insecurity, we're there to eliminate the insecurity. Because I believe a woman that is less insecure, we are more able to focus on other things, our families, our careers, there are so many things that need our attention. It is certainly not anything about our body that we should be stressing over. And

Kosta Yepifantsev: 10:31

some of the most successful people, men and women are, you know, they're confident people. You know, confidence is very important because it allows you to overcome struggles, it allows you to in those dark moments to dig deep, you know, but if you're sort of trapped in this box of insecurity, then you can't necessarily get out of the box to address any of the issues that come up. So I think that's a great point. I love that. With regards to like Botox and injectables and fillers. I know you talked a little bit about there being a stigma, what exactly is the stigma around that? But also, I want to ask before you answer that, and I didn't mean to interrupt, but more importantly, why do people still do it? Even though they still have? Are they considered that there's this stigma?

Shawn Simono: 11:15

Why do people still do it? Well, I think everyone likes to look refreshed. Everyone wants to feel young and important, right? And there is something to be said about the way you look affects how you feel, you know, just like they say, during the Great Depression, lipstick sales went through the roof. And it was because women still want it to feel beautiful, right? There's something that it does. If you're depressed and you feel you put on a good outfit, or you have a good hair day, your mood goes up. So I feel like that's why people still get it done. And I feel like the stigma is slowly going away. And I think it's just educating people. And again, just not shaming people for wanting to invest in themselves and do something that makes them feel good. Yeah,

Kosta Yepifantsev: 12:01

I was getting my hair cut today and the lady cutting my hair Tracy shout out Tracy Franklin lock Salon and Spa. A she said that I needed Botox. Oh, and I was like, You know what, maybe I do in my forehead, because I do like, Bro talk. Oh, there it is Botox. I'm listening right now go and get you some Botox. I do that thing. The wrinkly thing with the forehead. You know, I've always done it ever since I was a little kid. And it was always like my aha expression in pictures. You know, like, Yeah, and so I have permanent wrinkles, but maybe the Botox, the Botox, I'm sure the Botox will help. It'll certainly help. How was your perception of health and beauty changed since you opened fire and ice? And is there anything that you wish you'd known in the very beginning?

Shawn Simono: 12:44

Yes, I have certainly learned that we our own worst critics. And it is caused me to view myself differently as well. Because when someone walks into my spa, we see it so many times, a lot of women have expressed that they're intimidated to actually come into a med spa. And I have very beautiful girls that work there. And they they find that everyone is welcoming. But I also hear them talk about themselves in a different light. And the way that I see them and the way that they see themselves totally different. So in that regard, it's caused me to look at myself, try I tell people look at yourself through the eyes of love, right. And it's so hard to do, because we all have this, I call it the a hole in the head, right? Like the little voice that chatters at you like you just can't get them to shut up. And so when I hear some of the ladies say these things like oh, this is wrong with me, this is wrong with me or Oh, I'm just so ugly, or I'm too fat, or whatever it is. I'm like, would you say that to me? Would you say that to your daughter? Would you say that someone you love? And it's like why do we say these things to ourselves. But that is really taught me also because I mean, I had a big critic in my head to be able to talk to myself a lot differently and to monitor what I'm saying. Because really BD does start with I mean, as cliche as it is, it's your heart, right? If you're a nasty person, it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, nobody's gonna want to be around you. And for those little things come to fire and ice. But I really do believe our calling is to help women feel beautiful. And when they come in, we love on them. And that's why I think, again, back to the five star rating. I think that's why we have that because as cheesy as it sounds, that's our goal. You know, I could have done anything else in life that I I wanted to do, the sky's the limit, right if you believe it, but I wanted to step out and I wanted to love on women. It was healing for me. I wanted them to feel beautiful. I come from a background of feeling very insecure, you know, raised by my dad having a boy's name. You know, there was a lot of teasing going on in school. And I know what it's like to just feel less than and to not feel beautiful or seen or important. And I love that I have this space now women can come in and all these beautiful women tell them that they're beautiful and it's it's something to get a compliment from a woman and it's so genuine and I think It's healing for women. And I love that aspect of it. And same for men, right? Like they're coming in. And men need to feel reassured and to take cash. They carry the weight of the world, right? They're still the heads of the house, a lot of them and they need that relief. They need that time to unwind as well.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 15:15

Absolutely. But we just we cannot say yes to kingdom that we have to it has to still remain Barbie land. But I mean, I want to say though, you have the you have the Barbie movie, you have things obviously, that you're saying, Do you feel like more women are starting to accept and embrace this ideology of having self love for themselves? Is that starting? Is the trend starting to go in the right direction?

Shawn Simono: 15:39

God? I hope so. Right? I hope so. I think so. And I think it starts with us, right? How, again, how we speak to each other real notorious for calling out anybody around me if I hear Him say a hateful thing about their stuff. I'm Oh, no, no, you don't talk to my friend like That's right.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 15:56

And hopefully one day we get a female president when that depends on who she is. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So I want to talk a little bit about fire. Nice when you were getting started. Yeah. So was it hard to bootstrap this business from the ground up? Because I'm assuming there wasn't a whole lot of working capital that you were sitting on to build this business and the equipment that you buy really equipment for any Med Spa, but specifically the equipment that you bought? That's a lot of money? Like was it is that when you started having the migraines?

Shawn Simono: 16:27

Probably, you know, I think you just found that

Kosta Yepifantsev: 16:32

I was it was it hard to scale this business into the success it is today? So

Shawn Simono: 16:37

I want to say yes, but in all reality, I'm a big believer that the SPA was so much bigger than me, like I loved sometimes I get in my head, and I think, oh, you know, if I don't do this, or this, it won't succeed. And I have to sit back and be like, you can't take credit for all of this. Everything perfectly lined up the way it was supposed to. And I really do think it was the favor of God. I know that you know, some people, but I do think it was and I just happen to sell a house that I bought when I was 21. I've worked my tail off to pay this sucker off. And I had some capital and had a dream. And it just, I mean, it was it was it was hard work. I will not deny that. But it probably should have been more stressful. But I was powered by ambition and dreams.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 17:24

I love it. Grit. They say that grit is the most important thing for successful people, obviously, confidence is something but if you have passion and perseverance, which are the two ingredients in grit, you can pretty much accomplish just about everything.

Shawn Simono: 17:37

I guarantee, I keep a picture of my children sleeping on the couch in the Fire and Ice lobby and I was working, it was three in the morning. And so I leave those little stories out sometimes, but I keep it there to remember, you know, like if I do take off a day that guilt comes in to remind myself, hey, you know what, you've earned this moment of peace, you know, and to be able to sit back and enjoy the life that I've been blessed with how old are your kids? So my oldest is 23. Okay, you see jersey for college. And then my, my son is 13. And my daughter is

Kosta Yepifantsev: 18:10

12. And so is it hard running this successful business and also being a single mom at the same time? Oh, yeah. How do you find balance?

Shawn Simono: 18:19

In the beginning, there was no balance. There was no balance. It was just a lot of mommy's doing this for you, and I love you. And they really understood it was wild. They would even tell me they were like, We know mommy, we know. Yeah. And so I would try to just work while they were sleeping and on the couch. And it's gotten a lot better. Like, I feel like I'm finally getting to reap what I've sown, you know, so I'm reaping some time. I've got a great staff now. And I tell them all the time, I'm so thankful that like, I feel like I can leave and it's gonna run the same way is if I was there, they're so passionate about it. But yeah, it's very hard as a single mother, but also this is my legacy that I'm trying to leave. I want to leave something beautiful behind.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 19:01

Did the kids help out? Oh, yeah, I've

Shawn Simono: 19:04

got videos and film like, literally, I have one video, I can't go because it just came to my mind. I've got a pet goat. And I brought him why the walls were being built up. There's a video of my son hauling in chairs and there's my pet goat walking through the lobby. You know, it's just, we're just trying to throw memories to the wall. See what sticks, you know? So throw a goat in the mix.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 19:27

Alright, one more question, then we're gonna move on. Are you considering expanding? So maybe a new location? Or if it's not a new location in Putnam County or the upper Cumberland maybe something like closer to a metro market? Is that? Is that a consideration that you've had?

Shawn Simono: 19:41

I have people ask me that probably once a week. Nice. And the answer right now is maybe because right now I'm in such a good spot and we do live in such a hustle culture. It's easy for me to get caught up in that and get really out of balance and I am Just now really trying to put myself in the mindset of life is good. I have more time with my children. Don't rock the boat too much right now. But I will say sometimes I like to rock the boat a little bit.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 20:11

Absolutely. And with regards to that household culture on a daily basis, do you think that we're doing enough to take care of ourselves? And more importantly, how can we reevaluate our standards of health to live longer, healthier lives?

Shawn Simono: 20:24

No, I don't believe that we're doing enough the average person is not we are overstressed. overstressed. And I mean, just think about your life from from every day, right? All the responsibilities, you have the guilt that comes along with any risk that you do take. I know, it's not just me, right? We're all pretty similar creatures. And, and so no, I don't believe that. Life is a lot more fast paced than what it used to be. And you have to be intentional with taking the time because burnout is real, I've experienced it even in the midst of this fall. And that's doing something I'm super passionate about. And, you know, just burning myself at both ends and thinking, oh, you know, if I have everybody to love me, I'll be worthy, you know, you've got to step back and say, you know, I'm worthy regardless, irregardless of what I do, and I'm worth investing in. And so I think we all need to try to remember that and to invest in ourselves and get that rest and just little things for yourself, you know, because long way,

Kosta Yepifantsev: 21:25

I will say, especially when we bought this business in 2015, I felt like it was literally like, all the doors were opening, you know, I finally achieved all of my dreams. And you know, you work so hard, year after year, and for the first three years, we didn't, we didn't make a whole lot of money, we just put all that money back into the business because we were scaling at like 20 to 30%, every single year. And the crazy part is when you get to the point to where you can reap some of the benefits of your hard work, when you have these outside forces that just like come in with a sledgehammer like COVID It's like, boom, you know, it's like, Oh, what happened? Or, you know, it's inflation, and you got work comp going up. And like, you know, the insurance industry is apparently deciding to retire next year, because of the premiums that they charge, you know, for about three years. I didn't exercise I didn't eat well, you know, I had I just had a poor lifestyle. And, you know, and it's just like, you spent so much time and you realize when you get to the end of that race, and you're expecting a gold medal, and somebody gives you a ham and cheese sandwich, and you're just like, well, that sucks. And so you have to reflect back on now I spend time caring for myself, as well as also investing time and effort and energy and attention to my business. And you know, sometimes I like to say and I don't always mean it, but sometimes I say you know, I'm here for a good time, not a long time. But I'll tell you, if you don't take care of your body, whether you're a business owner, or you work in management, or even if you're an employee in a in a retail store, wherever you're at, you have to provide time for yourself. Yes, have to

Shawn Simono: 23:03

you feel so much better when you do you know, it affects every area of your life.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 23:08

Yeah, in the spirit of body and beauty empowerment. If you could give us one piece of advice on how to look and feel your best, what would it be?

Shawn Simono: 23:18

Okay, I'm gonna go down a different road. So I am going to go with, again, how we speak to ourselves, that is the most important I think that is crucial. I think it affects everything it affects your choices. It affects where you invest your time, it affects if you allow yourself to invest in yourself. So I'm going to say the most crucial thing you can do would be to listen to the words that you say to yourself your narrative inside your head, and then for all the other things come to fire and ice obviously we can make those

Kosta Yepifantsev: 23:52

That's right. You ever I mean, do you ever get on social media though and I asked this primarily for some of the younger listeners you know when you get on social media and you see all these Instagram models you know, contrary to popular belief, I don't spend a lot of time on social media but Morgan does with that being said when you see like all these all these images of how you're supposed to look and you may not have the financial means or you might not have the just the look right of an Instagram influencer like how do you relegate that? Is it something that you really have to work at?

Shawn Simono: 24:27

Well, I think that's when you step away and you you have to have that talk with yourself Instagram is not real you know, it's it's not real and I love this new movement of the influencers showing their imperfections like this is me pose this is me relax. This is me with cellulite. You know, I feel like people relate to real and vulnerable a lot more. And I feel like the culture is shifting to that to where we're not body shaming people. We're not judging people so harshly and so hopefully that movement continues you You go girl. Thanks.

Kosta Yepifantsev: 25:01

So we always like to end the show on a high note. Who is someone that makes you better when you're together?

Shawn Simono: 25:09

Oh my gosh, I will have to say it is my girlfriend's I prayed. Again being raised by I had no girlfriends growing up like one at a time was all I would allow. And I remember a couple years ago just praying like Lord send me some good like business minded Boss Babes, you know, and he answered he delivered. I have the best girlfriends ever. They do not gossip about other women. They are uplifting, they will introduce me to people. They're just, they're great. So it is my girlfriends. They are my sounding board. They're my voice of reason. And they're my encouragers I'm so thankful to have a good group of ladies around me.

Morgan Franklin: 25:50

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed listening and you want to hear more, make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. Leave us a review or better yet, share this episode with a friend. Today's episode was written and produced by Morgan Franklin post production mixing and editing by Mike Franklin. Want to know more about Kosta visit us at kostayepifantsev.com. We're better together. We'd like to remind our listeners that the views and opinions expressed during this episode are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official policy or position of this show its producers or any related entities or advertisers. While our discussions may touch on various topics of interest, please note that the content is intended to inspire thought provoking dialogue and should not be used for a substitute for professional advice. Specifically, nothing heard on this podcast should be construed as financial, legal, medical or any other kind of professional advice. We encourage our listeners to consult with a professional in these areas for guidance tailored to their specific circumstances.