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Scaling Multi-Location Businesses with Stephanie Joyce · Founder Mode

• 0:00
  Are there specific individuals within your organization that
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  are driving the majority of the revenue?
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  So is it really like a people thing or is it is it a system
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  thing? Again, is everything documented?
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  Are there any key stakeholders? If somebody leaves like we're
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  buying this business from you and you get hit by a car
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  tomorrow, is this business still going to be successful?
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  Like you'd have to ask those hard questions.
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  You're listening to Founder mode.
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  Where we breakdown what it really takes to build and scale
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  companies. Today's episodes about scaling
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  service businesses without losing control of operations,
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  culture, or margins. Our guest has lived through
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  rapid growth, acquisitions and turnarounds and has the scars
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  and playbooks to prove it before we interview her.
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  Kevin, you're knee deep in multi location healthcare OPS right
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  now. What are you learning?
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  Yeah. I think for me, the biggest
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  learning is just how antiquated technology is and how, you know
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  how hard it's been for these sort of like this industry,
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  whether it's sort of Med spas is Stephanie's going to talk about
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  or sort of like, you know, kind of what I would call traditional
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  medical practices like, you know, the the primary care, sort
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  of orthopedic, you know, pain clinic kind of thing.
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  Yeah, it's it's super interesting because you know, I
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  launched and scaled these these multi location service
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  businesses in the pre AI era. We're now in this new era, but
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  it's a lot of these things may no longer be true, but what we
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  did with that first location and ultimately scaled to all the
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  other ones was, was built a really strong sense of
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  membership and community. And I feel like especially in
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  our post COVID lives and in this world where like there's so much
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  fragmentation and so easy to get sucked into your vice, feeling
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  like you're a part of something bigger than yourself is so
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  important to people. And so that was, that was huge
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  for, for those for those businesses.
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  And we did it with multiple others after modern animals.
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  Well, which was basically like, Hey, why don't you become a
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  founding member of this location?
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  Why don't you be one of the first people We're going to give
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  you all this cool stuff and these benefits you get to be
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  special, you know, founder mode founding member, like people
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  want to start something. They want to be one of the
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  first, you know, hashtag first. Like I want to be special and
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  different, but I also want to be a part of something.
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  And so if you play off of those human psychological things, like
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  I think it, I think it has a lot of value for people.
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  So that was that was my one insight.
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  And I think in the post AI era that humanity becomes even more
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  true. And so I don't think that goes
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  away actually. Awesome, man.
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  Well, Stephanie's a founder and an operator and really known for
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  building scalable systems into these multi location businesses.
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  Yeah, she's helped turn complexity into clarity, and
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  today she's sharing. How should we bring her out,
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  Kevin? Let's do it.
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  Stephanie, welcome to Founder Mode.
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  You've built and scaled complex multi location services
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  businesses often in high pressure environments.
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  Today we're talking about really what it takes to scale,
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  integrate and operate when the stakes are high and the margin
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  for error as well. Yeah.
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  Yeah, welcome. Welcome, Stephanie.
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  So glad to have you here. I'm.
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  Excited to be here. You've taken a lot of
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  interesting businesses from zero to multi $1,000,000 revenue in a
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  short window. Tell us about what you focused
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  on 1st to make sure growth didn't break the whole
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  operation. I'd say the 1st and most
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  important thing and something that stays important from
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  beginning to end, even afterwards, are the people Just
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  like OK so you have to give people trust and autonomy, make
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  sure you have the right people on board, make sure you have the
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  right processes in place from onboarding to retention to
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  follow up. If you don't have the right
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  people, you could really impact culture, client interaction.
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  You can have the best systems in the world, but if you have the
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  wrong people, they don't matter. So I would say that would be the
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  most important thing to focus on beginning, middle and end your
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  people. I like it and I think you know
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  what one of the things like you talk about the people, but like
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  what was one of maybe the biggest mistakes that founder
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  make when they're trying to like copy paste like that successful
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  first location a. Few things not being clear on
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  the vision or communicating the vision or the why when you are
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  scaling the company, not having everything tightened up.
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  Things that might seem very corporate like a handbook or
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  operations protocol, having everything documented.
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  Like I said earlier, having proper onboarding because you
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  want consistency across all your locations.
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  You have to have consistency in order to have scalability 100%.
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  Otherwise you're you're building on quicksand.
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  So when you think about what is a, an acquirable business,
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  something that you believe, you know, if you put the right
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  system in process in place, you'll be able to scale it.
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  Are there certain things you're looking for when you're going on
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  a on a kind of M and a spree? You're saying, hey, we're
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  looking at this business that's similar to ours and we want to
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  add it so we can grow customers or add service lines.
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  Like how do you how do you evaluate the ones that are going
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  to work versus not? Yeah, it's funny.
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  I actually just got off an acquisition call and I could
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  tell some of the questions I was asking were a little bold, but
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  you have to ask questions like ask questions beyond what you
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  see on the financial statements, gross margins by your service
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  and products, employee contribution margins, like sure,
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  we pay these in salaries or whatever, but break it down to
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  me, what what space, what's Commission, what's your
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  traditional overhead? Are there specific individuals
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  within your organization that are driving the majority of the
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  revenue? So is it really like a people
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  thing or is it is it a system thing again?
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  Is everything documented? Are there any key stakeholders?
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  If somebody leaves, like we're buying this business from you
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  and you get hit by a car tomorrow, is this business still
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  going to be successful? Like you have to ask those hard
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  questions. Another thing I try to ask too
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  is about failures. Like if you could go back in
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  time, what would you do differently?
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  Where did you exhaust a lot of money that you wish you would
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  have put somewhere else and why? And I feel like that kind of cut
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  through the sales pitch that you typically get during these
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  conversations where they want to wrap a bow on everything and not
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  just show where there might be gaps that you may not see, but
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  also show a level of vulnerability and the people you
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  might be working with. And then let's just say with
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  it's one of the ones you did go through and acquire, what did
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  you take in like the first 90 days to sort of approach or
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  rectify that, you know, or what did you do differently because
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  you heard something in these kind of like sort of diligence
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  case that you that forced you to sort of take a different
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  approach or a different sort of move in that, you know, kind of
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  after you've acquired it? Yeah, I I think it's the same.
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  It's almost kind of it's really similar to if you even did
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  something to Novo right where you kind of wanna to hit the gas
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  pedal and and move full speed. You've done this acquisition,
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  but you have to have, again, open communication and patience
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  and sit back level set about what the expectations are with
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  what you're inheriting from like a goodwill or, or damage
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  perspective, if that's even the case.
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  And then strategize it like chest.
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  I mean it, it truly is like a game of chess.
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  If you are rushing it, you could lose people really quickly if
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  you're not really thinking about the perceived value of this
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  integration from a client or an employee perspective.
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  And, and how do we optimize that communicate.
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  It really boils down to communication.
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  I, I, I feel like with, with everyone.
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  So I don't know if that answers your question, but yeah.
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  Totally. So Stephanie, you stepped into
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  some businesses during crisis moments.
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  What are those metrics that you're looking at in that crisis
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  to understand what's what's actually going wrong?
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  And so you can kind of separate what's on fire versus what what
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  isn't. Again, communication and
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  presence. So when I stepped into that
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  crisis moment, I would say there was a lot of fear.
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  And even if you have the fear yourself and you're like going
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  to bed drenched in sweat or crying every night because
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  you're trying to think of what what is what, what could have
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  been, what might happen, the reality is, is at the end of the
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  day, you are the person everyone's looking to, to make
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  them feel comfortable and trust that everything is OK.
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  And even if you don't know that answer, you could at least
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  promise to them to be the best version of yourself and show up
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  for it, for the organization and for the clients.
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  People want to be heard. They want to like, understand,
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  and feel like everything's going to be OK.
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  And once you're past that initial stage of communication,
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  it's just giving them transparency.
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  Even if it is a situation of crisis, like people aren't naive
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  to it. So why not be transparent about
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  what we're doing, how we're doing it, how we're navigating
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  it? And when you do provide that
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  trust and information, they're more likely to follow your lead,
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  especially during a time of unknown.
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  So I would say those would be the first things I would focus
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  on if I was hopefully never again.
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  But if I was at in another crisis moment, it's it's
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  focusing on the people and and communicating and being
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  transparent and and moving with integrity too.
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  I mean, you had to step up in a big way when the CEO you worked
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  for kind of had to step down for legal reasons.
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  And so can you maybe share more about that wild chapter?
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  And like, I mean, I think you talked about some of the things
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  around communication and sort of stabilizing things, but you
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  know, what other insights do you have for foundation out there
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  that maybe step into or get forced into sort of one of these
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  firestorm type moments? And you know, what advice do you
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  have for them? I.
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  Well, first of all, I don't wish what came my way on anyone.
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  I do in hindsight, like I very much appreciate the founder and
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  CEO for trusting me to, to fill his shoes because they were very
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  big shoes to fill. What I wasn't prepared for when
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  I did step into that role was kind of like the wave that came
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  or it wasn't one wave. It was never ending waves.
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  It felt like that came after that.
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  What I would tell other founders, you're not alone even
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  though you feel very alone. Kind of that chapter was crazy
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  and every like not every, but a lot of things that you would be
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  afraid of as an entrepreneur or ACEO or founder or anything like
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  that kind of happened. Public scrutiny, exodus,
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  threats, financial crisis, stabilizing the company to be
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  cash flow positive because you're not relying on
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  contributions, dealing with like turnover with vendors and
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  employee turnover and simultaneously trying to build a
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  team to get you through these unknown times, but still provide
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  them the trust and rah rah and camaraderie.
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  Even though you're dealing with like the backside and of it all.
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  It's it's not easy. But at the end of the day, you
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  have to kind of be that like stoic person between everything,
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  like the investors, the previous CEO, you know, I cared about
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  making sure the company succeeded, But at the end of the
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  day, I cared about the people. I wanted to make sure that they
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  had a job to come home or job to come to and had food to bring
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  home and that that didn't stop and it was like a fight or
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  flight situation. But again, I think when you act
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  with integrity and you don't panic and you try to just
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  strategize and create a road map and navigate the hurdles as they
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  come in the most stoic way possible, then you build this
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  culture of we're going to get through it and we're going to
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  succeed through it. And I think like the biggest
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  lesson is fires also show what matters.
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  And so it really did create it just it lifts the, I don't know
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  what the saying is, but it lifts the hood, right?
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  Like you see everything because everything's on fire.
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  And it's certainly not like like I said, something I would wish
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  on anyone aside with that like at heart, I'm finance and
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  operation. So we, we definitely cut non
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  core things over communicated excessively focused on cash.
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  Like we obsessed over it because we had to, which in turn made us
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  profitable and, and, and in the end of it all, we didn't just
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  survive it. We almost, almost doubled
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  revenue and in a few years, two years and increased EBITDA and
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  even opened new location like so crisis definitely forced
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  clarity, but I don't regret it and I'm very, I don't mean this
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  in a masochist lens, but I'm grateful for it.
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  You probably took off like 20 years of my life, but I'm
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  grateful for it. You, you survived it and I think
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  that's important in it and, and we appreciate you sharing kind
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  of what you went through and also what you learn from it.
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  I'd love to dig into what gives you energy now.
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  Like what are you fired up about that gets you really excited to
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  build and you know, in in the context of these kind of multi
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  location and Med spa businesses that you've built, Like what is
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  what is the thing really like? Man, I just love doing this.
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  I really like building teams. We use like a behavioral
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  assessment tool week. It's called culture index and
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  it's been very helpful. But I love seeing the people I
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  bring on board hang out outside of work and create these like
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  lifelong friendships and even with their clients to like I
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  really love building teams. I also love building scalable
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  systems. Like it's, it's like a puzzle
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  almost like, I don't know, like that sounds really nerdy.
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  I'm curious for like in a Med spa, like first, like when you
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  say Med spa, like what does that mean?
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  And then second, like what is it from a systems point of view
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  that like, man, this is a system that you would like if you ever
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  do another Med spa or if somebody's out there that's
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  thinking about doing Med spa, like what's the system they just
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  absolutely have to build? It's a loaded question.
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  Well, first, I'm the founder and CEO of a tune.
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  It's a Wellness Med spa which we combine vanity with longevity.
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  For instance, you have been breaking out with acne, we could
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  treat it with facials, lasers, then eventually treat your
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  scarring, etcetera from the outside.
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  But we're going to want to get to the core of why you're having
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  acne. It could be something
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  nutritional, it could be something hormonal.
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  And we're going to recommend treatments externally and
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  internally. So meeting with our nutritionist
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  monthly if it's that or a nurse practitioner.
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  So that's a little bit about our brand and what we do.
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  As far as systems go, at the core, I am OPS and finance.
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  So there are a lot of systems and it kind of goes with being
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  scalable to like I don't ever want to create something that is
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  meant to have one location or not exist.
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  If something happens to me, I don't think there's any value in
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  that. Definitely need a strong POSEMR
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  system, 100%. You want something that has a
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  lot of automations, perhaps a a marketing add on where it takes
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  past appointments and sends out reminders after three months,
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  six months, etcetera. One thing that we do a little
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  differently from a lot of clinics as we do have a CRM as
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  well as we have HubSpot implemented.
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  We also use a lot of different marketing tactics like digital
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  ad agencies we're constantly working on.
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  We have about over 100 automated drip sequences for our clinic.
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  Obviously, customer acquisition, retention, we want tools that
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  factor in LTV. You must live and die by kind of
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  the, the kind of ongoing return business of these, of these kind
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  of clients, right? These customers coming back and
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  seeing you guys over and over again.
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  For, for folks out there that are founders trying to build
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  with, you know, real estate and footprint and multiple
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  locations. What are the, what are the
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  things that you feel like are the must haves?
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  Like you've got to, you got to put this stuff in place if you
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  want your, if you want your business to go from a single
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  storefront, single location to, you know, 10s, dozens and maybe
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  eventually hundreds. I mean, definitely before you
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  even pick locations, want to look at data and analytics, like
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  partner with a real estate broker or something and get
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  placer data if you can. Yeah.
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  Aside from that, though, it's again, getting very clear on
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  your systems and making sure that everybody's trained
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  properly, thinking about how you're going to market, how much
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  you're going to put behind your marketing dollars.
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  What's the one that's worked the best?
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  What's been the number one thing for you guys for growing a tune?
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  I mean, well, so I obviously worked somewhere else that had
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  more locations and our plan is to grow at a tune.
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  The best thing for us is for this industry is meta.
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  Meta meta. And when you think about the
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  Commission, you talked a lot about comp plans and commissions
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  and things like that. Like how much is that on?
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  Like if you're running meta ads, let's just maybe walk through a
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  specific example. Like you run meta ads, people
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  land on your website, they either sign up for a consult or
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  maybe they directly book an appointment.
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  Like where does that Commission sort of kick?
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  It, yeah. And I think it's different
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  everywhere. It's different by state, there's
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  different laws to on Commission, etcetera.
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  For me specifically as the type of executive I am, it is a
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  little more complex, but I create Commission structures to
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  drive behavior. So every position has a
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  different type of compensation structure and incentive.
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  So some positions like front of house might have different
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  opportunities to earn bonuses if the store as a whole does ABCDE
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  because we want them working in tandem with the providers and
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  the manager. The manager might have a
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  compensation structure where they get commissioned or bonus
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  off the stores performance and hitting a goal or certain
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  revenue. I'm trying not to say too much,
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  but like if we were to break out our revenue by type of revenue,
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  she might get a certain percentage off 1 type of
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  revenue, but get a higher percentage off another type of
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  revenue. For instance, lasers that drive
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  a higher. Got it.
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  So like different products based commissions are?
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  Yeah, yeah. Makes sense.
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  And then for for other providers there's there's different
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  compensation structures too. It could be based off of revenue
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  thresholds, like if you get to here, you can get X percent.
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  But the one thing I will say is even if you do have those
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  incentives, it's making sure that you also have a culture and
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  you don't have a compensation structure.
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  That also drives bad behavior. Like you never want your
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  providers to sell something to someone that they don't need.
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  Like if you were bald, I can't tell because you were in a hat
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  and someone sold you a. Shampoo, Oh my God, Short hair,
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  but I'm not like that. Would be fair, right?
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  Like that would be ethically. Yeah, like no, selling me
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  shampoo with no hair would be deaf.
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  Like yeah, I agree. So yeah, I mean, that's like
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  obviously a sarcastic. Know that customer, I believe,
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  yeah. Yeah.
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  And it's and I don't ever want that type of provider or clinic
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  or culture, so. Don't want a car salesman?
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  Yeah, so you have. To be the Wellness.
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  Clinical and there's a fine balance.
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  And, and I think that you also have to have a variable mindset
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  with it too. If something's not working, be
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  open to changing it. When I was in Texas, the types
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  of services and revenues we were doing were completely different
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  than what they are in Connecticut.
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  And it took a few months for me to realize, like, this isn't
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  driving any behavior. I need to change it.
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  And I think often times some entrepreneurs might get be set
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  in their ways and, and you just have to be open to to test, not
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  just changing, but testing to like do the work.
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  Work. Run different models, run
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  different analysis, run different scenarios.
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  When I first created like a, my first very complex Commission
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  structure, I probably redid it at like 60 or 70 times.
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  And this was during code. So I had nothing better to do
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  rounder mode, you know, and, and I was like, no, I feel like we
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  could drive profitability more if we just change this, if we
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  tweak this, if we adjust this and so like run the test like,
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  and if it doesn't work, it's fine.
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  Like that's what iteration is for.
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  You just don't want to be stuck in something.
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  It's not working. So as as we start to look ahead
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  into the future, Stephanie and consumer expectations and
• 20:53
  Wellness trends shift, what's the coming like?
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  What are you? What are you seeing as the next
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  big thing in in your? Technology, AI, more longevity
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  platforms that are more focused on retention and LTV because
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  that hasn't really been a primary focus for a lot of
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  platforms in our industry. I think consumers are more
• 21:12
  savvy. They want more data.
• 21:15
  And I do think that if somebody is investing as much money as
• 21:18
  they are investing in their appearance, whatever it is, they
• 21:21
  should have data points to track their progress or just check in
• 21:26
  and make sure it's working. There's something peculiar about
• 21:29
  this industry where people still want that human touch point.
• 21:33
  So it's how do you find a fine balance to optimize that?
• 21:37
  And it's people's faces too. So how do you find a fine
• 21:41
  balance to use AI with imaging and forecasting tools and
• 21:47
  progress tools and even communicating.
• 21:50
  Like I know there are some apps out there now that are offering
• 21:52
  you scan a picture and it gives you a treatment plan and they
• 21:55
  partner with certain. At the end of the day, it is
• 21:59
  just this algorithm, right? So how do you instill that trust
• 22:02
  with AI? And I think with what's coming
• 22:06
  next, it's not losing that client trust and still having
• 22:09
  some of that human touch in it. But I do think that technology
• 22:13
  is the biggest thing coming for our industry and hopefully some
• 22:18
  type of consolidation between all the different tools that
• 22:21
  there are. So there is an app like that
• 22:23
  right now called, I think it's called, certainly not to like
• 22:26
  cross promote them or something, but yeah, yeah.
• 22:30
  And that's what I'm saying. It's like, sure, this app could
• 22:32
  scan your face and say, Kevin, you're you have this sun damage.
• 22:35
  Well, we'll all buy this hundred dollar $200 product.
• 22:38
  Are you actually going to buy it?
• 22:39
  I might, because The thing is, if you told me that I could
• 22:41
  track because I think the thing that I don't because why like I
• 22:44
  don't even wear century like as much as I should like, you know,
• 22:48
  like what should I put on my face and then I can track.
• 22:50
  No, I know and everybody says it, but I'm like, dude, I need
• 22:52
  the picture. That's like, dude, you went on
• 22:53
  the sun and it went worse or whatever.
• 22:54
  But I know about my, I would love to sort of some point I got
• 22:57
  to do the research on this. But maybe you can pitch us your
• 22:59
  stuff like what are you, you know, how do people come find
• 23:01
  you? How do people like you know if
• 23:03
  they want to come try out your services or check it off?
• 23:05
  They are in the East Coast and close by.
• 23:07
  Like how do they kind of get a hold of you?
• 23:09
  They could visit our website toonmedspa.com Message me on
• 23:12
  LinkedIn. Yes, those machines work by the
• 23:15
  way they measure. They are unforgiving.
• 23:19
  They measure your porch sunspots, your redness your and
• 23:26
  then they also as they're measuring all of these things
• 23:29
  like we have one at a tune. It will show you how you compare
• 23:34
  in your age range to other people.
• 23:37
  Something like a leaderboard. I'm a sucker for a leaderboard.
• 23:41
  Your bottom quartile, you better.
• 23:42
  You better get on it, Kevin. Now I need to go get one of
• 23:45
  these machines. Stephanie, this has been so
• 23:47
  helpful and we'll include all of that information in the in the
• 23:50
  show notes. Just appreciate you being here.
• 23:53
  This is a great primer and kind of multi location founder mode.
• 23:56
  So just thank you for joining us.
• 23:58
  Thank you. Thank you so much, that was a
• 24:01
  real operators episode. Stephanie's through line was
• 24:03
  simple. People 1st and systems because
• 24:06
  scaling multiplies whatever you're already tolerating.
• 24:08
  Yeah, and setting aside your skin care, the part that stuck
• 24:12
  with me was her acquisition, her acquisition lens.
• 24:15
  Don't just read the financials. Figure out if the business
• 24:17
  survives when like a key person disappears, and whether the
• 24:20
  operation is actually documented.
• 24:22
  Yeah, and also that that crisis chapter, I mean, communication,
• 24:25
  transparency and presents aren't soft skills when things are on
• 24:28
  fire, they're the job. All right, Kevin, what were the
• 24:31
  founder mode? Five key takeaways.
• 24:33
  People come first. Wrong hires break culture and
• 24:36
  negate any system. Scaling requires documentation,
• 24:39
  SOP's, onboarding and a clear vision enable consistency.
• 24:43
  Acquirable businesses survive without the individuals.
• 24:46
  Unit economics and concentration matter.
• 24:49
  Integration should be deliberate.
• 24:51
  Move slowly. Communicate consistently,
• 24:54
  protect trust in crisis. Lead visibly over communicate.
• 24:58
  Focus on cash, cut non core fast.
• 25:00
  If you're scaling a service business or thinking about
• 25:03
  adding locations, share this episode with someone on your
• 25:05
  team. And make sure you're subscribed
• 25:07
  to Founder Mode. We'll keep bringing you
• 25:09
  operators who've actually done the work.
• 25:11
  That's it for today. Because scale only works when
• 25:14
  the systems come first.