A Cure She Had to Find Herself
At 21, after clear skin all through her teenage years, Dr May Marr developed adult acne. She tried every beauty counter in town, spending money she didn't have, before landing on the idea that would shape her whole career: acne isn't a beauty problem, it's a medical skin condition. She treated her own skin with alpha and beta hydroxy acids, sunscreen and prescription vitamin A. Years later, a move to the Northern Rivers cut short her career as a cancer care trainee, and she found herself needing to create a job rather than find one.
"It was either unemployment or create a job for myself, which I did. So I decided to dive into aesthetics, and here we are."
A One-Woman Show
The early days of The Marr Clinic were, in May's words, frantic and chaotic. She was the practitioner, the social media manager and the HR department, all at once, learning the business side by trial and error, seven days a week, with little to no work-life balance.
"I was a very good practitioner, but I had no idea about running a business, and it's a completely different skill set. That was the biggest challenge."
Two years in, once word-of-mouth had taken her as far as it could, she had to outsource her first website. She had no idea how to build one herself.
Outgrowing the Garage
The clinic outgrew its first home, a converted garage at the family property. Five years ago, the move to its current space took May from a team of two, herself and a personal assistant, to six employees.
"That was another different ballgame in terms of managing the business. I felt that I needed help with managing a six-person business as opposed to just myself and my PA."
3am, Doomscrolling, and Ready to Sell for $10
At the start of last year, in the middle of a difficult personal chapter, May reached a point where she didn't think she could keep going.
"My first thought was, if someone came to the door and offered me $10 to buy my business, I would probably sell it to them."
Doomscrolling on Facebook at 3am, she came across Jack Delosa asking business owners if they felt like they were wearing six hats, doing everything, and had no life outside the business.
"He's speaking to me. Those are all the problems that I encounter, and I need a solution for that."
She signed up the next day.
A Process for Everything
What The Entourage gave May first was structure. Jack's Empire Builder framework introduced protected time, both for herself and for working on the business rather than just in it. She credits the coaches, who were generous with their time even outside her own coaching relationship (she recalls cornering coach Andrew McFarlane at the Fiji retreat, and he simply made the time), and a community of other founders that ended years of feeling like the only person who understood what running a business actually took.
Piece by piece, May built a process for every part of the clinic: hiring, a profit and loss sheet she finally understood, sales and marketing, and a standard procedure for everything from opening the clinic each morning to injecting a particular medication or running a facial. She even trained an AI assistant, with her coaches' support, to generate the detailed consultation plan she gives every new patient, cutting out roughly half an hour of typing per appointment and keeping her whole team aligned on exactly where each patient is in their treatment journey.
"There is a process for every single thing within the business, which makes it very clear. It gives me clarity, it gives my employee clarity."
The Numbers, and the Patients, to Match
Since joining The Entourage, The Marr Clinic has seen the results:
- Revenue up 30% year on year
- Fully booked for new patients for the next six weeks
- Average spend for new patients in their first week around $1,000 to $2,000, compared to around $500 previously
- Weekly hours worked unchanged, at two and a half days a week
"More buck for my time, definitely."
The clinic isn't just busier. The patients coming through the door are the ones May wants: long-term, high-value, and not shopping around between practitioners.
From Drowning to "I've Got This"
The biggest result, May says, wasn't a number at all.
"The biggest result is the mindset change, from 'I'm so overwhelmed, I need to work 24 hours a day,' to 'I have this really lovely balance.'"
She's sleeping through the night instead of doomscrolling at 3am, and now leads a team of six instead of carrying the clinic alone.
Not for Sale Anymore
The business May once considered selling for $10 is now one she wants to keep and grow. Next on the list: finally launching her own skincare brand, an idea she first developed in 2023 but shelved, unsure how to build an e-commerce business on top of everything else.
"With the help of The Entourage, I'm confident that I will be able to launch my skincare brand."
The Sparkly Queen of Aesthetics
"I would recommend [The Entourage] to ecommerce businesses, service-based businesses, and all small business owners at any time in your journey. The Entourage was invaluable at every stage of your entrepreneurship...
Through working with The Entourage, I discovered I can kick ass, and I can be the sparkly queen of aesthetics."
