Episode 277

The 10-Employee Bottleneck: Operational Scoreboards and Replicating Clinical Excellence

by Business of Aesthetics | Published Date: April 7, 2026

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In this episode, host Don Adeesha sits down with Cory Gallagher to tackle the crucial transition from instinct-based management to structured, scalable growth. Cory unpacks the realization that relying solely on grit and hustle creates severe organizational bottlenecks, revealing how a lack of objective data leaves practice owners running blind as their teams expand.

The conversation dives deep into the mechanics of identifying and fixing hidden operational inefficiencies, including how tracking metrics exposed a massive 60% disparity in provider revenue per hour. Cory details his systematic approach to scaling safely, from implementing non-negotiable clinical apprenticeships that maintain Michelin-star-level quality to establishing a rigid weekly meeting cadence that repairs broken internal communication.

Finally, Cory challenges the traditional view of operational overhead by urging owners to treat employees as high-return infrastructure investments rather than mere expenses. He outlines his overarching leadership framework: acting as a path-clearer for managers by setting objective quarterly priorities, tracking them weekly, and ensuring the team stays unblocked without falling into the trap of micromanagement.

Key Takeaways

  1. Transition from instinct-based management to objective performance tracking.
    Implement distinct scorecards to measure crucial KPIs like revenue per hour and marketing conversions to identify operational bottlenecks.
  2. Establish formal communication structures before crossing the ten-employee threshold.
    Replace informal hallway chats with mandatory weekly leadership, all-hands, and clinical meetings to prevent team misalignment and operational friction.
  3. Abandon annual bonus structures in favor of weekly accountability metrics.
    Track objective quarterly priorities in weekly leadership meetings to quickly unblock managers and maintain consistent progress.
  4. Mandate standardized training programs to protect clinical quality during expansion.
    Implement a paid, non-negotiable apprenticeship for all new providers to ensure every patient receives the exact same Michelin-star-level experience.
  5. Calculate your clinical hourly worth to ruthlessly delegate low-revenue administrative tasks.
    Utilize medical assistants and front desk staff to handle prep and scheduling so providers can maximize their revenue-generating treatment time.
  6. Treat employees as high-return infrastructure rather than overhead expenses.
    Invest deeply in a capable team because strong operational support ultimately allows clinical providers to generate significantly more revenue.

Cory Gallagher emphasized that true scale requires separating your practice from founder dependence by implementing strong, objective systems. This session is your opportunity to build a targeted roadmap that ensures your patient acquisition strategy is just as deliberate and measurable as your internal clinical operations.

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Key Highlights:

  • 00:00:12 – The Transition from Hustle to Structured Growth 
    • Host Don Adeesha introduces Cory Gallagher, the managing partner at Allure Aesthetics, to discuss scaling a practice beyond instinct-based management. 
    • The episode is sponsored by Ekwa Marketing, a digital growth partner for aesthetic practices. 
    • Cory realized the need for structured systems after his clinic reached $4.5 million in revenue and grew to a team of about 10 people. 
    • He recognized a significant bottleneck when he realized that if he were handed a $1 million investment, he wouldn’t know where to deploy it to effectively scale the business. 
    • Because the clinic lacked clear insights, they were blindly spending money on social media ads without knowing their true return on investment.

    Don Adeesha: Getting a practice off the ground takes hustle and instinct. But when the business starts to grow, instinct alone is not enough. At some point, scaling requires structure, systems, and a different way to lead. Welcome back to the Business of Aesthetics podcast. I’m your host, Don Adeesha. Today, we are joined by Cory Gallagher. Cory is the managing partner at Allure Aesthetics. He works on the business side of the practice and has helped grow the company from a single room office into a national brand. His focus is on the systems behind the growth, clear goals, strong operations, performance tracking, and better communications as teams expand. In this episode, we’ll talk about moving beyond instinct-based management, leading through growth bottlenecks, and building a training model that protects clinical quality at scale. Now, this episode is brought to you by Ekwa Marketing, the digital growth partner behind this podcast and a trusted resource for aesthetic practices looking to grow their local presence. That being said, Cory, welcome to the podcast. I appreciate it. Absolutely appreciate you for being here. Now let’s dive into the conversation. In the early days, growth often runs on hustle and instinct. What was the moment when you realized that approach would no longer support growth?

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah, we definitely built the whole business really on just grit, hardware, and like you said, a lot of instincts. And we kind of grew vertically up until really about like four and a half million and probably a team of around 10 people. We were just adding a provider, adding a support staff, and things started to feel a little bit shaky. And I can specifically remember we started getting all those PE calls that I’m sure a lot of people should get all the time. And, you know, I have friends in M&A and talking to them about investments, I realized that if somebody handed me a million dollars right now, I wouldn’t know where to put it to scale the business. And that scared me because that meant that I don’t know where the bottleneck is. I don’t know really how to grow the business outside of just a growing itself organically. And so I was feeling like I was just running blind. I wasn’t able to track my leads well, my conversions well, my retention well. I didn’t know where the sore spot was that I should be addressing. And so that’s when it really became apparent to us that we needed a lot better insights, a lot better data, and a lot better scorecards for the business in general, just so we knew where the pain points really were.

    Don Adeesha: And how did you start on, you know, gathering the data and the scorecards? What was the aha moment really?

    Cory Gallagher: The aha moment that we needed to do it was me realizing that no matter how much money I had, I wouldn’t know how to scale it right now. And as we started adding a little like a leadership layer to the team. We brought on a director of operations and now we’re bringing on a general manager for this location. I realized that people needed scorecards. They needed to find ways that we could track their performance. People wanted to know how they know if they’re doing good or not. And unless there’s objective metrics to that, nobody really knows. It’s just however they think you’re feeling about them, which nobody is comfortable with. And we were surprised by a lot of the things we saw. We thought that our hourly, our revenue per hour would be much higher than it actually was. We thought that our retention was better than it actually was. And when you start seeing these specific numbers, you really have goals you can set that are objective, that make you think about the problems in a different way. And you can actually track if you’re accomplishing them. I think a lot of practices, and we were at that time kind of just throwing money at boosting Instagram posts or random Facebook ads. And you don’t know if they’re working or they’re not working. Things feel like they’re going good, but who knows? So you just keep doing it. But it actually is holding you back from investing real money in the business because you have no sense of if it’s going to help or not.

  • 00:04:02 – Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Fixing Performance Gaps 
    • Cory tracks three primary areas: revenue per hour for providers, leads and conversions for marketing, and follow-up rates for operations. 
    • The implementation of scorecards revealed a massive 60% gap in revenue per hour between the top provider and newer staff members. 
    • To close this gap, the clinic initiated an internal shadowing program with the lead nurse practitioner. 
    • They also utilized third-party observations from their director of operations and hired external consultants to align with industry benchmarks.

    Don Adeesha: That’s right. And so how did you dial in onto the KPIs, which were like, give us top three for the up and coming business owner, top three KPIs that you really tracked meticulously and ensured, you know, growth?

    Cory Gallagher: Revenue per hour is really important to us, especially because we pay based on hourly and salary for everyone. So we’re paying them whether they’re seeing patients or not, and depending on how efficient they are or not. So that’s really important to us. For our marketing people, we want to know how many leads we’re getting per channel and how well those are converting. We want to know if the lifetime value is going up, if the patient cadence, if they’re having more visits or less visits over time. For operations, we want to track our follow-ups. We want to see if our follow-ups going up and down per provider. If one provider is having more follow-ups than another, there’s an issue that needs to be addressed and we need to figure out what’s going on there. And the same thing for the revenue per hour. That was really what surprised us was how spread out that was per provider. There was something that our top provider was doing that obviously wasn’t getting passed down to our newer providers. And the gap was tremendous, probably like a 60% gaping. So there’s just so much money being left on the table when you don’t even know there’s a problem.

    Don Adeesha: Right. And when you identified that problem, say the 60% gap, how did you go about fixing it?

    Cory Gallagher: We started having our lead nurse practitioner, who’s my wife, by the way. So she’s the lead clinician on site. We had her start to shadow the rest of the team, take notes, start to identify what does she think she’s doing differently than they’re doing. We had them begin to shadow her to do the same. And then we had a third party, like our director of operations, sit down on both appointments to see what she could notice that was different. And we also made some investments in some consultants who could help us bring another outside perspective because we could do the best we can at identifying what the problems might be, but it’s always helpful to get an outside perspective who works with a lot of different practices and have maybe seen some of these same problems before and know what the industry benchmarks are. And so that was really helpful as well.

    Don Adeesha: That’s right. Figuring out the unknown unknowns is a very tricky part indeed. Absolutely. Cory, just one second. Technically, am I glitching?

    Cory Gallagher: You have a little bit of lag to you, but I can hear you just fine.

    Don Adeesha: So I’m not sure if you see me lagging or not. Okay, I do extend my apologies over there because I even restarted the system. You’re okay to continue as is?

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah, I can hear you just fine.

    Don Adeesha: Okay, fantastic.

  • 00:06:38 – Building a Leadership Framework and Team Meetings 
    • Informal communication naturally broke down once the business passed the 10-employee mark. 
    • The clinic implemented a structured meeting schedule: Monday morning leadership alignment, Monday afternoon all-hands updates, and Friday clinical case studies.
    • Injecting this structure required taking a temporary half-step back, but ultimately brought stability and reduced team miscommunications. 
    • Giving the team transparent performance data eventually led to a 20% lift in provider performance and maintained 100% provider retention.

    Don Adeesha: Okay, then we’ll go on to the next question. So Cory, a lot of practices hit a wall as the team gets bigger and communication starts to break down. What framework helped you lead through that stage without slowing growth?

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah, we definitely felt that when we hit around that 10 employee mark, there started, things started slipping through the cracks because before then you can informally just talk in the hall or during lunch, everyone’s there at the same time. Maybe you’re all on a texting relationship. And once you pass that 10 employee mark, those sorts of communications start to break down, whether it’s intentional or not, people are going to be out of the loop on certain conversations that are happening. And that just doesn’t really work anymore. We don’t follow EOS specifically. I don’t know if you’re familiar with traction or EOS, but I’ve read all the books out there and I do like the rocks that they have to keep people accountable. And I do like the meeting structure they have. So we built in every Monday morning, we have a leadership meeting where we go over our goals and any issues and it’s formal. It’s every single Monday morning. We’re looking at our scoreboards to know how we’re doing in each individual department and what blockers we might have. Every Monday afternoon, we have like an all hands on deck meeting to make sure that any changes that are happening at the practice or anything that we need to be paying attention to is getting dispersed to everyone. And then on Fridays, we’ll have clinical meetings where we’ll go over case studies and we’ll do that sort of same thing, but just for the clinicians to make sure that any updates in the protocols or any new way of doing things that one provider has found, maybe they want to share with the rest of the staff to keep things consistent that way as well.

    Don Adeesha: Okay, so that’s a lot of meetings, especially on one day. How are you really balancing out, you know, you mentioned revenue per hour is very important key metric for y’all. Revenue per hour is not running while you are having these meetings.

    Cory Gallagher: That’s true. It’s true. We have it around our lunch. So it kind of blends with that a little bit. I mean, they definitely get their lunch. I don’t want to imply that they’re not, but right afterwards, we’ll dive into those meetings. The leadership one is just for the managers. So that’s not really affecting the clinical flow of the practice. The Monday one is, and the Friday one for clinicians is, and that does feel like a one-time hit. I feel like when you start to inject structure into a business that didn’t have it before, you do have to take like a half a step back for a little bit to try to bring some stability to things. Because before we had all of this, we have an amazing team, but we still did start having little spats amongst the team. And I think a lot of it was miscommunication or people’s needs weren’t getting met because they didn’t have like an official time to bring up concerns or how they were feeling. So by the time some of those concerns came out, they were already more upset than they had to be about. And so while nobody likes to take away working time, I think that it’s necessary to sort of preserve not only the consistency of how things are going, but the happiness of everyone, and to drive forward you need to spend some time thinking about the business rather than just working in the business. And that goes for every role, not just the owners.

    Don Adeesha: Great. So tell us, you know, for our practice owners listening in, they are really keen on hearing how this really affected your ROI. Now you are telling us like, you know, staff satisfaction has gone up, but how has that overall affected the bottom line?

    Cory Gallagher: It’s hard to parse out exactly what did what. And at the same time that we were going into this, we were feeling some of those filler setbacks. And I think That was around 2024 when everyone started feeling those things. And most of that has bounced back to this time. But we sort of stagnated already for like a year and a half before doing all of this. And we didn’t see a dip from taking this half a step back to really build a leadership team. Margins might have gone down. That was probably partially because of that filler dip and partially because of the infrastructure we were investing in. But since then, we’ve grown a lot. I think we grew about 10% last year. since we started tracking this revenue per hour for everyone and putting that in front of them, which is always a fear everyone has that, you know, they’re going to see the numbers and then wonder about pay and all of that. But I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised that most people want to know how good they’re doing and what they could be doing better and what they could be doing to make more of themselves. And I think we’ve probably had at least a 20% lift across the board with our providers in terms of what they’re doing per hour. We have had 100 percent retention with the providers. No one’s left. And although we didn’t lose anyone before these changes, it felt like we were on the verge. So this really helped us to bring everyone back together as a team. And I think having that shared space for everyone to I don’t want to say fence because it’s not a place for people to complain, but for people to address problems that they see. It makes the business better. It makes it a better working environment for everyone. And we really get to address a lot of inefficiencies that we see across the whole business. So since doing all of that, I think in the first, we probably took a, I don’t want to say took a knee, but we probably took a half a step back for about six months where we weren’t working on other investments. And then we saw by the end of the year, probably a 10% growth.

    Don Adeesha: That’s amazing. Thanks so much for sharing those numbers. And of course, one of the biggest expenses a practice can have is that revolving door staff turnover.

    Cory Gallagher: Absolutely. Yeah, it’s way more expensive to replace someone than it is to invest some time in keeping them for sure.

  • 00:12:45 – Goal Setting, Accountability, and Delegation
    • Cory learned that tying bonuses to end-of-year goals is ineffective because staff won’t track them consistently throughout the year. 
    • Instead, leaders must set objective priorities and track them weekly in management meetings to ensure no one is blocked from making progress.
    • Each management member has three specific priorities tied to their department.
    • Cory’s primary role as a leader is to act as a path-clearer for his team to achieve their goals, without micromanaging their specific processes.

    Don Adeesha: Amazing. um now uh Cory you use yearly goals and quarterly priorities to keep the team aligned how do you make sure those priorities are actually driving action you know that’s a really good question so to be clear those priorities are tied to management our providers are still able to track their revenue per hour and they know that that’s associated with you know their raises and how well they’re doing as a provider comparison to other people.

    Cory Gallagher: It’s not a constant drive to just do more. It’s in comparison to, you know, the average. For the managers, we made this mistake in the beginning where when we would sign on a new manager or a director, we would originally put a bonus in their contracts. If we hit this by the end of the year, if you improve, you know, the revenue per hour by 15%, you get this large bonus, or if EBITDA goes up 10%, you get this large bonus. And even the smartest people, when it’s written down on a paper somewhere, they don’t look at it again until it’s time to collect. And then it just feels like luck by the end of the year. Oh, wait, I was promised that bonus. Did we hit it or not? And it just doesn’t work like that. You have to be tracking it all the time and it has to be objective. So at those leadership meetings, the first thing we do in those leadership meetings, just on a simple Excel spreadsheet, everyone has their rocks and they’re marking them as on track, off track, or they’re blocked by something. And that’s the first thing we’re discussing. And those should be objective metrics, not just, you know, increase team morale because who knows what that means. Everyone has a different idea of what that means. It needs to be something like, you know, raise the revenue per hour by 10% or increase leads by 15%, something objective. And since we’re going over that in every meeting, there’s no excuse to get to the end of a quarter and then find out that somebody was stuck and it was outside of their control. At every Monday meeting, if you’re stuck, we’re going to figure out why and we want to get you unstuck by the next week. If that’s something internal, then it becomes the next person’s responsibility that’s blocking you to get their stuff done so that you can move forward. If it’s something external, we all need to problem solve of what’s going on and how we can adapt. And looking at it that consistently really keeps you top of mind for people.

    Don Adeesha: Okay, now that sounded a lot like, you know, there’s a great collaboration in place. How do you keep collaboration and self-accountability or rather role accountability separate? Or is that, you know, not necessary?

    Cory Gallagher: So each person has their own three priorities per quarter, and that’s delegated to their role for the management. So our marketing person will have marketing specific priorities, our operations person will have operations specific priorities. And I’ll have my own priorities too, which is kind of whatever is outside of the wheelhouse of everybody else. But one of mine is always making sure that they get theirs accomplished. So that means that one of my biggest goals, one of my top three goals in every quarter is to make sure you’re on blocks to get yours done. And I think that’s what the head of any company should really be doing. That’s their primary responsibility is to make sure that the path is clear for everyone else.

    Don Adeesha: clearing the path um where do you draw the line between really clearing the path and kind of uh spoon feeding uh your teammates that could be tricky too um i think i i think we’ve learned over time that it’s hard to up train someone into a role this is kind of a side note but it is an important lesson that we learned a lot of times you’ll um give people raises and move them into a new position based on tenure when they’ve never really had experience either managing other people or thinking in terms of

    Cory Gallagher: systems before. And to try to teach them that on the ground or to just put them in the role and then expect them to learn it is really, really difficult. So if you’re thinking about doing that, I would suggest that you have that person start to learn those skills before they get put in that seat. Or you think about hiring out for that. Now, if you do hire out and you get into a place where you’re you’re falling into this trap of how much am I spoon feeding you versus letting you do your thing? I think there’s two important things to think about. The first is try not to micromanage them. Try to give them the room to make the decisions themselves and figure things out on their own. But you do have to sort of set up what your expectations are for how strategic you want them to be. So is this, if your goals are specific enough that you’re telling them what to do, I think that that’s a mistake. I think your goals should be an objective, a metric you want them to clear and leave it up to them to figure it out.

    Don Adeesha: Great. So the objective to clear and figure it out themselves, because otherwise you are kind of doing the work you’re paying them to do.

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah. There’s a great book about that called Who, Not How. I mean, that’s basically the whole book is hire the who who knows how to get it done. Don’t try to figure out the how and then pay somebody to do it the way you figured out. Ideally, you’re going to hire somebody who knows better than you how to fill that role.

  • 00:17:58 – The Apprenticeship Model and Protecting Clinical Quality 
    • Ekwa Marketing provides listeners with a 60-minute complimentary digital strategy session to map out online presence and growth opportunities.
    • Allure Aesthetics mandates a non-negotiable, paid, three-month apprenticeship for all new providers to maintain strict clinical consistency.
    • Operating like a Michelin restaurant, the clinic expects all staff to execute treatments using the same standardized protocols.
    • Approximately 40% of hires do not make it through the program, emphasizing the rigorous quality filter.
    • To combat transactional volume, the clinic focuses on high average tickets by requiring hour-long consultations for comprehensive treatment planning.

    Don Adeesha: Check. Now, before we continue, a quick word from our sponsor, Ekwa Marketing. Ekwa Marketing are offering our listeners a complimentary 60-minute digital strategy session. This is a one-on-one meeting with the senior strategist to help you look at your practice’s growth opportunities over the next 12 months. During the session, you’ll get a clear view of your online presence, a better understanding of how your patient journey is working or is not, and practical insight into where new growth may be hiding across search and social. You’ll leave with a clear plan tailored just for your practice. You can check the availability and reserve your spot under two minutes at www.businessofaesthetics.org/msm. That’s www.businessofaesthetics.org/msm. Now let’s get back to the episode. Now, Cory, as practices grow, clinical consistency often gets harder to protect. What part of your apprenticeship model helps new providers deliver the same level of patient experience?

    Cory Gallagher: I think this is something that’s really unique to us. So it It may be totally out of the realm of the way other people are doing things. We try to see ourselves like a Michelin restaurant where we want everyone following the same recipes essentially. So we don’t hire for skill that people already have, might be doing things in their own way. Most of our providers, we train from the ground up. But even if we do bring in someone with a lot of experience from somewhere else, we have a non-negotiable apprenticeship. It usually lasts about three months. It’s paid, so if you don’t make it through for whatever reason that we can fart amicably, it’s gonna begin with shadowing and there’s gonna be some didactic lessons in there. And then we’re going to observe you doing specific treatments on patients until you hit a certain number of each one. Then you’ll be a little bit more hands-on with us just looking over. And until the lead trainer at our practice this, signs off that they think you can give an equal experience and results as all of our other providers, you’re not seeing patients on your own. And not everyone makes it through that. I think probably 40% of people don’t make it through that. But that’s really important for us to maintain the level of consistency that we want. And that’s not everyone’s business model. Some people may want to do volume real quickly, but that’s our business model. And that’s really how we look at it. If you had a bunch of different chefs in the kitchen, the restaurant cooking Different styles. I don’t think anyone knows what to expect when they walk in there. And so that makes it really difficult. But I don’t think this is unique to aesthetics anyway. I think that any business, the idea is the bigger you get, the worse the quality gets. And that’s been our biggest fear and something we’ve tried to hedge against right from the beginning.

    Don Adeesha: That’s right. Now, you mentioned over here something very interesting, a non-negotiable, but paid apprenticeship for three months. A lot of the practices might consider asking them to return, you know, the amount that they receive, because that might have been kind of like an investment, a training. And since they did not pass through, they might be considering for reimbursement. Why are you taking the other side of the?

    Cory Gallagher: So to be clear, we’re not paying them the full rate. It is a reduced rate, but we are paying them. we will, we do have an agreement where we look to be repaid. If you decide after this agreement, you’re going to leave and go open your own place, then obviously we’re going to want to be repaid. But if during this apprenticeship, and we hope that never happens, I don’t want to put that out there, but during this apprenticeship, if for whatever reason, we just feel like this isn’t a good fit and it’s just not going to work. We’re not going to, that was our risk to take. That’s the way we look at it. We want to have winning team we want to have the best team in the world and we have to be willing to invest in people i mean they’re investing in us by deciding to work with us leave wherever they are go through this apprenticeship at a reduced rate with us so i really feel like it’s an investment on both sides and it’s tough i mean that’s why you have to have really good retention and really good communication with people and you have to be really good at filtering out the right people you have to hire for mindset over what’s in the briefcase when they come to the door for sure

    Don Adeesha: Check. Now, what makes the patient experience different at Allure?

    Cory Gallagher: I think we give people a lot more time. We really think in terms of plans and like a long-term journey with us rather than transactions. And I think this is something you’re starting to see across the market, but we’ve been doing it really for a long time. And I think it’s part of what made us different. Our new patient appointments are an hour, an hour, 20 minutes. where we’re giving a comprehensive plan to every single patient. So we have a very high average ticket and that sort of leads to this revolving loop where we’re able to post these really transformative results. And then people who want those sorts of results seek us out and it’s sort of as a cycle. But in terms of no transaction, so we don’t even allow people to book like a lip filler or a Botox. We’ll have some retreatments for people who have already gotten that. But the first time you’re coming in, we’re getting that hour long new client appointment that we’re going to be discussing everything with you. And we really try to set the tone for people when they call or when they reach out to us the first time that this is just how we were. And that has produced better results. Well, I only have one thing to compare it to. I know that we’ve been quite successful with it. I can’t see in the alternate universe if we did it a different way. I think you could be equally successful in doing it in a way where you’re doing short appointments and really crunching your time and doing volume. For us, that would feel harder because we care about what we do so much. And that’s not just a pitch. We don’t really understand the volume game to that degree and to how to crunch that time and be super efficient and maybe charge less and just try to go for volume. The way that we found to be successful is to try to give the best results we can and be willing to charge for it. So our average tickets, I think, are much higher than industry average because of the way we do it.

    Don Adeesha: But that’s what works for you.

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah, exactly.

  • 00:24:26 – Overcoming Bottlenecks and Golden Nuggets for Scaling 
    • To free up time, owners should calculate their hourly value during treatments and outsource administrative duties like front desk and scheduling that cost less.
    • Cory highlights the vulnerability of the "three-employee trap," where operations depend too heavily on a small staff with no redundancies.
    • Through mentorship groups like Vistage, Cory learned to challenge his own self-limiting beliefs about scale and affordability.
    • His ultimate golden nugget: view employees as high-return infrastructure investments, not merely as business expenses.
    • Don Adeesha concludes the episode and shares the promotional link: www.businessofaesthetics.org/msm.

    Don Adeesha: Now, for the owner who feels stuck in a daily admin work, what is the first system they should hand off so that they can lead more strategically?

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah, it’s tough. And I think we were really lucky in this sense, because like I said, my wife is my business partner as well, and she’s the lead clinician. So we sort of had this split right from the beginning. So I think we were really lucky in that sense. If you were a person who is the lead clinician and trying to run the business, I would say the easiest way to look at this is to decide what you’re worth per hour. What are you worth per hour in the treatment? And then start eliminating everything that you could pay someone to do for less than. So I would say probably your front desk first, your scheduling, your answering the phones and the texts, your check-ins and check-outs. Something that really helped us boost efficiency, especially with these long appointments, was medical assistance. So medical assistance allows us to do the first, I don’t want to say half, but maybe the first quarter of the appointment, getting the room ready, going over the medical history, prepping everything. And the last quarter of that appointment, which is cleaning up, doing the post-care instructions and walking the person to the front desk. And we got to pull that out of the appointment so that our providers can be more effectively. So you’re going to want to just start pulling as much as you can out of those low revenue tasks that you have. I will say, though, that when you’re in that three employee trap, that’s a really difficult place to be, too, because you can become really dependent on those people. And if they leave, that’s a scary thought. So I would try to rush past that as much as you can until you can get some sort of office manager, have a little bit of redundancy so that you’re not completely dependent on one or two people. And don’t completely abdicate responsibility to people. Still be delegating, understand how they’re doing things, have them writing down their processes so that if they do leave, you can replace them and not be at a total loss of how things were run.

    Don Adeesha: Right. Take us through why you mentioned about the three employment trap. Is that from personal experience?

    Cory Gallagher: Yeah. A little bit. So when we had, you know, one front desk person, one medical assistant, and this allowed us to shorten our appointments by like 25 minutes, when that medical assistant gets sick, it’s everyone’s hair is on fire. And so that’s scary. And I think that a lot of people feel this. I see a lot of people who they’ll get to like, maybe like the four or five employee mark and something like that will happen or someone will leave and go off on their own. And then they say, you know what, I’m going back to small. I’m just going to do everything myself again. And I don’t think that’s any easier. I think that’s just as hard. So I feel like it is a difficult spot to be in in between one provider and to when you maybe have, you know, a little bit of redundancy for each role, maybe two medical assistants, two people at the front desk where it’s at least survivable if someone calls out or leaves. So it is a little bit of a scary position to be in, but the whole thing is. When you’re on your own, it’s scary because if you get sick, no money’s coming in. When you have three employees, you feel dependent on them. And I’m sure if I had 100 employees, it would be scary because any small change in the industry puts everyone at risk. So I do feel more comfortable at the place I’m at, though, than back when we were at one to three employees.

    Don Adeesha: Absolutely. Okay. And what was the question that allowed you to really reflect during that time and gain the clarity to move in the direction that you did to expanding your growth and getting comfortable in this quality-based, quality outcome-based sort of treatment?

    Cory Gallagher: I think always questioning some of the beliefs that I have and are these true or are these keeping me in my comfort zone? such as we can’t get too big because we’ll lose quality. Is that a fact? Is that guaranteed? Is it impossible to get bigger without losing quality? There’s gotta be a way to do it. And that’s the game. That’s the puzzle to figure out. Or, you know, I can’t hire somebody because I can’t afford it. Can you not afford it? Is it an expense or is it actually an investment that’s gonna make you more over time? So I think a lot of times we have these self-limiting beliefs to keep us in our comfort zone. Because even though you might be working harder, it’s easier to do what you know than to try something new.

    Don Adeesha: And why did you really get out of that? Like, what did you use to break out of that shell?

    Cory Gallagher: I was lucky. I had a lot of really good business mentors. I’m in a group called Vistage. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of that. And that put me in a room with people who are a whole lot more successful than me and who have been in business a whole lot longer than me. And so I’ve gotten great advice from them. I do a lot of reading where I can read a lot of books. I look around at businesses who have made it. And when you’re talking to small business owners, and when I say small, I don’t mean three employees. I mean 50, 100 employees. They’ve all been through the same stages. And when you hear the similarities across industries about the challenges of each stage of breaking that 1 million revenue mark, and then that 5 million revenue mark, and that 10 million revenue mark, You realize that everybody is going through the same feelings that you are feeling and there are solutions to getting past them. And be resourceful, try to study, figure out how other people have done it and try to replicate it the best you can. And ask for help if you need. One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned was just networking and having conversations like this. Not only do I learn great things from people like you when I’m talking to you or other business owners, But even just saying it out loud myself makes me question some of the things I’m doing and figure out new ways of doing things. And so the more time you can spend doing that, I think the better off you are as well.

    Don Adeesha: Amazing. Now, Cory, we have arrived at the end of the podcast here, but I do want to ask you one last question. A key takeaway, perhaps. What is the golden nugget from this conversation we just had?

    Cory Gallagher: So I’m not sure if I explicitly said it, but I would say that you should look at people as infrastructure. I think a lot of times when people are thinking about investing and growing their business, they’re thinking in terms of a machine or real estate, a new location, and they’re always forgetting about people. People for some reason often feel like an expense, but when you realize how much return you can get on people, even in roles that aren’t directly generating revenue, but by allowing you and your providers to generate more revenue, people are sometimes the best investment you can make. I would say usually. At this point, I feel like having a super capable person on my team, even if I don’t know what to do with them today, is a good thing. Because if I had 10 me’s in a room, I’m sure I’d be more effective than by myself.

    Don Adeesha: Got it. That’s a very interesting takeaway. And a very valuable look at what it takes to build a practice with Cory Gallagher. Thanks, Cory, for really sharing your insights with us here.

    Cory Gallagher: Thanks for having me. It was a fun chat.

    Don Adeesha: Absolutely. Now, Cory made it clear that strong systems and strong leaderships are what separates a founder-dependent business from one that can scale in a healthy, sustainable way. And just like your internal growth needs a real strategy, your patient growth does too. So if you want more clarity on the digital side of your practice, Ekwa Marketing is offering our listeners a complimentary 60-minute strategy session. It’s a one-on-one conversation to help you map out a practical 12-month plan for attracting the right patients. You can book a time at www.businessofaesthetics.org/msm. That’s www.businessofaesthetics.org/msm. I’m Don Adeesha and this has been the Business of Aesthetics podcast. Thanks for listening and keep shaping the future of aesthetics.


GUEST – Cory Gallagher

Cory Gallagher

Cory Gallagher is a master of operational infrastructure and the Managing Partner at Allure Aesthetics. Operating strictly on the strategic side of the practice, Cory oversees brand development, long-term market positioning, and the enterprise systems required to scale without compromising quality.

Since the founding of Allure Aesthetics in 2018, Cory has been instrumental in guiding its evolution from a single-room office into one of the most respected, high-volume aesthetic practices in the country. He specializes in transitioning clinics from “instinct-based management” to highly structured, metrics-driven organizations. By architecting scalable communication frameworks, tracking rigorous scoreboards, and developing programs like the Allure Apprenticeship, Cory ensures that the clinical team can deliver an uncompromising, elite patient experience. His mission is to build the ultimate foundation that protects the practice and anticipates market evolutions years in advance.

www.allureaestheticsllc.com


HOST – Adeesha Pemananda

Adeesha Pemananda

A seasoned marketing professional and a natural on-camera presence, Adeesha Pemananda is a skilled virtual event host and presenter. His extensive experience in brand building and project management provides a unique strategic advantage, allowing him to not only facilitate but also elevate virtual events.

Adeesha is known for his ability to captivate digital audiences, foster interaction, and ensure that the event’s core message resonates with every attendee. Whether you’re planning a global webinar, an interactive workshop, or a multi-session virtual conference, Adeesha brings the perfect blend of professionalism, energy, and technical savvy to guarantee a successful and impactful event.

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Category: Business of Aesthetics Podcast
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