Dr. Rada Shakov, MD, and Dr. Emil Shakov, MD Of The Youth Fountain have taken the health and wellness practice by storm, expertly helping their clients reclaim their vigour, vitality, and confidence in their bodies.
This genius of a couple is adept at gastroenterology, general surgery, weight loss, skincare, hair restoration therapy, aesthetic treatments, and more. Dr. Emil Shakov founded the wellness center in 2013 with his wife Dr. Rada Shakov eventually expanding the practice in 2015.
Together, the Shakovs have multiple success stories of treating health and wellness from the inside and out, highlighting the importance of holistic patient care. The gifted duo utilise first-class, state-of-the-art methods to put their clients back in control of their appearance and physical health.
With the Covid pandemic creating a new, parallel lifestyle for the majority, the Shakovs observed a rising demand in clients who wanted to feel like their personal wellness was supported – they quickly realized that they can play a vital role in this, hence, as licensed medical professionals, The Youth Fountain was streamlined predominantly for such individual clients.
The Shakovs definitely find a healthy sense of reward and fulfillment in their profession. They love making an immediate impact in their patient’s lives and they also love the fact that their patients are happy to see them and that they can form a bond and connection with them. Their primary goal is to always keep learning and enhancing their knowledge and techniques. They want to bring more awareness about health maintenance, especially the importance of preventative care. They also want the industry to be more proactive when it comes to showing people how they can stay healthy, invigorated, and youthful throughout their lives.
InLife International recently caught up with Dr. Rada Shakov and Dr. Emil Shakov and here’s what went down:
Could you please tell our readers a brief background about yourself and how you started your business?
Dr. Rada: I initially started as a Board Certified Gastroenterologist, and after working in a group setting, decided that working for someone else wasn’t for me. I have always loved all things aesthetic, from makeup to beauty and fashion along with wellness. Dr. Emil created The Youth Fountain and it was only natural to join him and grow the practice.
Dr. Emil: I began my career in surgery as an employed surgeon. After several years, I decided to start my own practice, The Youth Fountain, at the end of 2013. I wanted to be my own boss and to offer treatments for my current patients and for prospective patients without being hindered or influenced by a boss.
What was your key driving force to become medical doctors and entrepreneurs?
Dr. Rada: I have always wanted to be a doctor. Aesthetics allows me to help patients in a different way, a way that can incorporate the outside beauty with inner health and wellness. Being an entrepreneur allows me to work in a way that is best suited for being a mother. As an entrepreneur, the success of our business is from the hard work we and our staff put into it. Showing my children that if they put effort into their dreams, the dreams become reality.
Dr. Emil: I had always wanted to be a doctor from an early age. I loved the idea of being able to make sick people healthy. I never expected to be an entrepreneur until I became one after starting my own practice. I was thrown into being a business owner and had to learn tough lessons on how to run a business and decisions that you make can be detrimental or beneficial depending on the choices you make for your business.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your business?
Dr. Rada: Currently, we have ads on Facebook and Instagram. Also, our positive reviews on Google are a great way to garner new patients.
Dr. Emil: I’m constantly looking to improve the business through efficient business practices, monitoring the profit and loss, and making sure I have the right staff in place to help me accomplish our goals of growth and success. We try to stay up to date in the latest techniques in Aesthetics to offer the patients the best treatments. We recently hired a PR company to help us grow and gain exposure in the media.
What form of marketing has worked well for your business throughout the years?
Dr. Rada: We’ve seen the most success with New Age PR Agency and advertising through social media.
Dr. Emil: We have tried every form of marketing you can think of. Direct mailers, Billboard advertisements, TV commercials, Social Media Marketing, and Advertising in magazines. We have used several different marketing companies for the advertisements. At this time, I have taken over our marketing because I did not feel I got real value out of the spending we were doing. This has worked well. We mainly do social media advertising and SEO upgrades for the websites to help with organic searching.
What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?
Dr. Rada: If you believe a decision is necessary to make, then it becomes less difficult. Every day we have choices and decisions to make. Thinking them through calmly and rationally helps when they are difficult.
Dr. Emil: Due to Covid, we have had to shut down on more than one occasion. If we are shut down we produce no revenue for the business. Safety first and we fully agree with that but nonetheless, being shut down was very difficult financially for us.
How do you define success?
Dr. Rada: Success for me is providing a life for my children that I didn’t have. Making a patient happy is a small daily success that I am grateful for. Success for me goes beyond monetary things, it’s the ability to impact people in a positive way that feels like success to me.
Dr. Emil: Success for me is not having financial worries for the business, happy patients, and happy staff. A great reputation in your field and recognition from your peers.
Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Dr. Rada: I think that hard work and smart work are the formula for becoming a successful entrepreneur. Having humility and learning from others around you is another important aspect.
Dr. Emil: Hard work, perseverance, a lot of sleepless nights, blood, sweat, and tears, and true grit. You must be ready to fail in order to succeed and sometimes you fail a lot before you succeed. Most important is you learn from your failures and you never give up.
What is your favorite aspect of being a doctor/entrepreneur?
Dr. Rada: I love the ability to meet new and unique individuals and the ability to constantly learn, evolve and grow as a doctor.
Dr. Emil: I love being a doctor! It was my life goal and I was able to accomplish my dream and get to do what I love and make a living doing it. I love having my own business and being the boss and not having to answer to a boss. There is a wonderful freedom in being able to say that.
If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Dr. Rada: If I were to start my career over again I would take business courses along with my medical training. I also might have not gone into gastroenterology and started aesthetics training after my medical residency.
Dr. Emil: I probably would have pursued cosmetic or plastic surgery instead of only general surgery. This way I could offer patients the full spectrum of treatments from non-invasive to invasive. I also would have loved to have gone into practice on my own from the beginning instead of starting in the employed route.
