Scaling Multi-Location Businesses with Stephanie Joyce

Welcome back to Founder Mode!

In this episode of Founder Mode, we sat down with Stephanie Joyce, a medspa founder and multi-location operator who’s led through turnarounds, acquisitions, and rapid growth.

If you're scaling a service business, or even thinking about adding a second location, this one is packed with playbooks. Stephanie's operated in high-pressure environments where getting it wrong meant losing customers, team trust, or margin.

Here’s what stood out.

1. People Before Systems

Before you build out SOPs, CRM automations, or multi-tier comp plans, you need the right people.

“Wrong hires break culture and negate any system.”

This came up again and again. The best systems mean nothing if the team running them isn’t aligned, well-trained, or bought into the mission.

Hiring slow, onboarding well, and protecting your culture are all critical, especially when you scale.

2. Consistency Is the Foundation for Scale

If your second location feels like a totally different business, you have a problem.

“Scaling requires documentation, SOPs, onboarding, and a clear vision.”

From the moment you think about expansion, every process needs to be scalable, not just repeatable, but measurable and teachable.

Think: training manuals, EMR/POS automations, onboarding sequences, and marketing systems that run on rails.

3. Acquirable = Durable

Stephanie's approach to M&A is brutally honest, and it's why she’s good at it.

“If someone gets hit by a car tomorrow, does the business still work?”

When looking at acquisitions, don’t stop at the P&L. Check for key person risk, lack of documentation, or revenue too concentrated in one individual.

If the business only works with a specific person or founder in place, it’s not scalable, and it’s not safe.

4. Crisis Demands Clarity

Stephanie led through a founder crisis, legal, financial, and operational, and came out stronger.

“In crisis, lead visibly, over-communicate, and focus on cash.”

When it all hits the fan, soft skills become core leadership skills. Calm matters. Transparency matters. Integrity matters.

She made the company profitable under pressure by stripping to essentials, communicating clearly, and building team trust.

5. Don’t Overthink Systems. Just Test and Iterate.

From CRM automations to revenue-based commissions, Stephanie stressed one thing: nothing is final.

“You just don’t want to be stuck in something that’s not working.”

She rebuilt her commission plan 60–70 times during COVID. Not because it failed, but because she wanted it to work better. Her playbook: test, measure, tweak, repeat.

This mindset applies to everything, not just comp. Marketing, customer ops, retention, onboarding, it’s all a game of iteration.

Final Thoughts

This was a real operator’s episode. Stephanie’s entire mindset is about building durable systems that survive you, and that’s a powerful lens for founders.

As I said at the end:

“Scale only works when the systems come first.”

If you’re adding locations, evaluating a service business for M&A, or wondering why your ops feel messy as you grow, this one’s for you.

Send it to a founder who needs it.
We’ll be back next week with more.

🎧 Listen to Episode 43 here: