BUSINESS: THE DERMAL DIARY

SELLING THE DERMAL DIARY

Are you considering selling your spa or clinic? Isabella Loneragan shares what the experience was like for her.

If you had asked me when I opened the doors of The Dermal Diary seven years ago, if I’d ever sell it, the answer would have been a hard no. From the very first moment I created the brand, it felt like home. The Dermal Diary was my creative outlet, my passion, income, and in many ways, my identity. The frequent 14-hour days, blood, sweat and tears only begin to describe the work and commitment it took to build the clinic into all that it was and I took great pride in carving out a path of success for myself and the amazing team I had the pleasure of growing along the way.

Isabella’s new skin clinic in Bowral

But above all personal and professional success The Dermal Diary provided me, the greatest accomplishment was hosting clients and facilitating their skin transformations. Seeing the impact that healthy and glowing skin had on their personal confidence and the way they showed up in the world was a feeling of fulfilment that made everything worth it.

It’s fascinating how life changes. While at one point in my life TDD was the centre of my world, along came the birth of two children under two, two COVID lockdowns (both exceeding three months) and a move from Sydney to Bowral to start a new chapter with my family. My journey had changed course. I had grown TDD to the pinnacle of my capability and was ready for a new challenge. While lockdown posed a very real problem to all those in our industry, it also gave me the time to reflect on my own growth journey and what was next. I realised I had outgrown my business and was craving something different. After a few hard but honest conversations, I made the decision to sell.

The process of selling a business

Selling a business is an interesting process. By nature, I am not one to shy away from a challenge but if you think buying a house is hard and complex, selling a business is probably double the challenge. The parties involved at a minimum are you, the buyer, your lawyer, the buyer’s lawyer, the landlord (if you lease a space) the landlord’s lawyer, the landlord’s leasing agent, the council (where your business exists), your accountant, the buyer’s accountant, the business insurance underwriters, and don’t forget the broker (we chose to employ a broker).

It’s never easy to turn the page on something you have built from the ground up, but so far I have no doubt it was the right decision

The process took about seven months, 90% of that was working with one buyer, and getting all the red tape/ bureaucratic paperwork completed. I’ve been told that was fast! Usually, it takes a lot longer. It can be an extremely stressful process, which it was for us a lot of the time. The buyers were decent, intelligent and reasonable people so that helped the process greatly. In the end, it was a fabulous outcome for all parties, I was happy, the buyers were happy and the staff were happy with their new employment contracts.

Tips for business owners considering selling:

• Plan for a sale: get the business into an attractive state, we had a business manual called “The Bible” which I worked on for about a year on and off, it was mostly to help the staff run the business correctly whilst I was on maternity leave, but when it came to sell, the buyers were very excited and relieved to see it existed. It’s literally every single process that exists in the business, from where and how we order our retail products, to who to call if the toilet doesn’t work!

• Plan staff progression plans and involve staff to ensure retainment – and again, buyers find this attractive

• Keep the sale confidential until you can no longer, it’s best that way as everyone has an opinion and opinions can upset the process

• Grow your relationship with your landlord, having a healthy and positive relationship with your landlord is extremely important in the sale of a business, as your landlord can refuse the sale, which can cause all sorts of issues including having the sale fall through at the last minute

• If you have the luxury to, choose a buyer that will complement your business, as it’s your legacy

• be prepared to spend a lot of money, selling a business is more expensive than you might realise (see the list of people involved that all need to be paid above)

Isabella Loneragan at her former Skin Clinic, The Dermal Diary

• You will need to unlink the relationship between money (sale price) and how you emotionally feel about the business. It’s extremely difficult to achieve but once you do, things become a lot easier.

• Research and consider a broker: My advice would be to research brokers thoroughly, and get recommendations from others that have used the broker you are considering. If you feel you can achieve the sale without the use of a broker but simply need a buyer, consider creating “a fee for a buyer” arrangement instead of using a broker for the entire sale. In hindsight we would do it that way if we did it again.

It’s never easy to turn the page on something you have built from the ground up, but so far I have no doubt it was the right decision and I have been able to use all the years of experience (both good and bad!) to formulate a new career with the creation of Isabella Loneragan Skin, my boutique skin clinic in Bowral that has just launched.. Isabella Loneragan is the Founder of The Dermal Diary and Isabella Loneragan Skin.

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