Sage Skincare transitioned from a 30 year founder led practice into a modern, scalable DTC brand. I built the systems required to preserve clinical integrity while enabling growth beyond the founder.
Sage Skincare is a clinical skincare brand built on education, ingredient transparency, and paramedical expertise. For decades, trust was driven entirely by the founder’s hands on involvement.
The brand had credibility.
The business had no structure.
Everything ran through the founder.
• No CRM or automation
• No scalable fulfillment or subscriptions
• Outdated website and limited digital presence
• No documented processes or systems
• Growth required cloning the founder
The challenge was to modernize operations without diluting the education first philosophy that built trust over thirty years.
I served as Director of Operations and strategic right hand to the founder, owning operational strategy, brand modernization, and system design.
I audited all workflows and rebuilt operations from the ground up.
Brand and education were standardized through updated messaging, protocols, and training tools that replicated the founder’s clinical expertise digitally.
Operational systems were built to support scale.
CRM and post purchase automation delivered personalized skincare regimens.
Fulfillment and inventory workflows were redesigned to improve speed and reliability.
SOPs and QA systems were documented to remove founder dependency.
Financial visibility and vendor management were introduced.
Ingredient costs were reduced while improving quality.
Dashboards tracked profitability, repeat rate, and operational performance.
Revenue diversification followed.
A subscription program created predictable recurring revenue.
Sample kits and virtual consultations increased repeat purchases and national reach.
The website and customer journey were redesigned to support education driven conversion.
• Grew online customers by 150 percent in 18 months
• Increased total revenue by 40 percent
• Launched subscriptions contributing 25 percent of sales
• Reduced fulfillment time from 3 days to 1 day
• Cut ingredient costs by 30 percent
• Increased returning customers by 45 percent
• Removed founder from daily operations
Sage Skincare evolved into a scale ready DTC brand without losing its clinical credibility. Systems replaced reliance on founder presence. Education remained central. Growth became sustainable.
This work reflects how I help legacy brands modernize operations while protecting what made them trusted in the first place.
We embed within founder-led businesses to build the operational backbone that frees you from running the company and empowers you to start leading it.