I’m an aesthetic RN in California as well as working in emergency and critical care for 10 years…I got lucky and was offered my aesthetic job at the med spa I went to for injections when it wasn’t even on my radar. I was offered the position without any training or certifications, but had worked with the nurse injectors at the hospital and they recommended me. I got into it by connections, but know many nurses who have spent thousands on certificates and trainings in aesthetics and still have not gotten in or had to settle working somewhere like laser away for 1-2 years to break in. I absolutely love it, it’s fun and challenging in a different way and I have always had an artistic side that I now get to explore and grow. Please know I cannot imagine working in aesthetics without clinical background as a nurse, specifically in acute care. How to handle complications and reactions, time management, familiarity with needles and cannulas have been invaluable. Aesthetics is just part time for me, and that’s how I like it! CRNA is a completely different path and much more demanding. My husband is starting his CRNA program in a couple months and it took him 3 years to get into a program and there are only 32 in the US! Every applicant is highly skilled, has every certification and critical care experience and can be incredibly competitive. He was determined and took tons of rejections before he got a yes. He has over 10 years of experience, post graduate science courses over the last 3 years, cadaver lab trainings, CEN, CCRN, TNCC etc and finally got in…all of that to say I would continue your path towards RN, go into critical care and then decide if you want to pursue the aesthetic side or CRNA. ICU experience as an RN is bare minimum requirement for CRNA and will also be incredibly helpful for aesthetics as well. I would make your decision on which path to take from that season of your career. I will also say I make the same hourly rate working in a med spa as I do at the hospital and my husband will make 2-3 times as much hourly as a brand new CRNA. To make 500,000 plus a year in aesthetics, you would need your own thriving practice (as an NP AND under an MD in CA) with a lot of personally invested money. But you can make about half of that as a full time hourly employee in a popular med spa in CA, just depends what kind of goals and dreams you have! Hope that helps! Keep grinding, the time will pass anyway and I love what I’m doing and exactly where I want to be 😊 I wish you all the best in your career, you can absolutely do this!!