Millefiori Medical Skin Rejuvenation
Owners Kyle and Iris Graham, and FSBDC at EFSC Area Director Marty Duffy (L-R)
Having a great idea for a new business is only the beginning for an entrepreneur. After the market has been researched and the business plan is written and the funding has been arranged, the company opens its doors. And that’s when the fun starts; now the business needs to be managed.
Iris and Kyle Graham, founders and owners of Millefiori Medical Skin Rejuvenation, had just that experience. Millefiori MSR is a boutique medical spa offering aesthetic skin care services including facials, chemical peels and micro-needling for tattoo removal, as well as Botox, laser and injection treatments. They cater to a high-end clientele in Melbourne, FL where they are extremely active in the community.
When they opened in 2015, the Grahams were first-time business owners and were inventing their business as they went along. “We used to do everything on paper,” Iris Graham recalls. “We were ‘Old School’. I balanced my checkbook. We had a spreadsheet, and a ledger, and the checkbook. It was so redundant.”
“I network a lot in our community,” continued Kyle Graham. “I was telling people about the 30 – 35 hours a month we were spending on our financial system. And someone said that the FSBDC could help us systematize it and make it a lot quicker.”
The Grahams contacted Martin Duffy, the area manager and a consultant at the Florida SBDC at Eastern Florida State College, a sub-center of the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF). “Working with the FSBDC, we went through the problems and diagnosed them and came up with a plan. Now we do everything electronically. Today we only spend 2 hours a month on our financials and all the information is at our finger tips,” Kyle says.
Getting their financial management house in order was only the beginning. The Grahams were already reviewing all of their business activities and codifying them into a company manual. The FSBDC’s support complemented this effort. “We call it the Millefiori Bible,” Iris Graham notes. “Everything is written down. We have a process or procedure for everything in our business. We can now give our employees great training, they can do a great job and our clients get great service. Knowing we have it all down helps us sleep at night.”
The FSBDC team has also helped Millefiori MSR hone its marketing plan with in depth marketing research. “With the FSBDC’s assistance, we have gotten much better at understanding our target audience, segmenting it and reaching out to the right clients,” says Kyle Graham. “Since starting with the FSBDC, we’ve seen our business increase by 40% consistently, until this year when we have seen a 50% increase in revenue. We have been slammed!”
“The FSBDC is an amazing resource,” concluded Iris Graham. “It’s a huge opportunity for us to get very professional consulting at a high level like this, all at no cost. We’ve been able to improve as business managers. Now we have a laser-like focus on what’s important to increase our business. We would highly recommend the FSBDC to anyone.”
