We recently connected with Amber McMillan and have shared our conversation below.
Amber , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?
I started CLEO with my co-founder, Brian in early 2024. Though both of us are seasoned hospitality operators, neither of us had direct experience in the aesthetic dermatology / medspa space prior, so we were sure to allocate a large block of time to recruiting our initial providers before opening up our first location. Through a combination of referral from friends, our medical director and posting on Indeed, we were able to surface a strong pipeline of candidates. Despite building a strong pipeline, this was quite a stressful process as providers are the heroes in our space and this was not an area we felt that we could get wrong. We ran an extensive interview process that involved a large amount of role-playing and simulations to make sure that they could think on their toes and take them out of their comfort zones to show their most authentic selves.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
At CLEO, we’re on a mission to usher in a new era of skincare focused on efficacy, transparency, and accessibility – combining expert clinical knowledge with cutting-edge and stress-free laser treatments delivering an exceptional standard of care in skin rejuvenation, hair removal and tattoo removal. We opened our first two locations in Edina and Maple Grove, Minnesota in September, 2024 and are set to open in several new cities later this year.
Prior to founding CLEO, I was an SVP at LIFETIME where I ran business several units, originally starting as a personal trainer in one of the business’s first ever locations. Despite a deep love for LIFETIME, I felt that I was entering a stage in my career in which it made sense to take on a bit more risk and build a business of my own, which led to CLEO.
I’m incredibly proud of where we’ve taken the business over the past 9 months or so and more importantly the results that we’ve been able to partner with our clients to achieve. Entrepreneurial paths are filled with twists and turns but I’m incredibly happy with where we are to date and where the business is going. We have a perfect 5 star google ranking at both of our clinics and internally have 90+ NPS.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Prior to starting CLEO, I spent the near entirety of my career at LIFETIME here in Minneapolis. I truly grew up inside of the LIFETIME organization, developing many close relationships over multiple decades, which made a dive into the unknown very nerve racking. Approaching the other side of my 40’s I felt that if I didn’t build CLEO now, I feared I never would. At a cross roads in my career I chose to embrace the difficult path.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
I met my co-founder Brian through a mutual friend in the wellness space. On our first call together, we connected very deeply and fed off of each others energy. Though the CLEO business model wasn’t clear to either of us on our first call, it was clear that we needed to build something together and had incredibly complimentary skill sets. Over several months of research we landed on the opportunity in cosmetic laser together, building out the business case.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cleoskinandlaser.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoskinandlaser/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Cleo-Skin-And-Laser/61555050011512/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleo-skin-laser
- Yelp: https://www.facebook.com/people/Cleo-Skin-And-Laser/61555050011512/
