Episode 295: Real Estate, Acquisitions & Real Leadership: How Dr. Melissa Hubiak is Building Life-first Wealth
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
Release Date: 12/01/2025
Episode 312: How to Stop Scaling Chaos
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
This week’s episode of The Fierce Factor Podcast is a special one. We’re bringing you a replay from Day 1 of SPARK, our leadership intensive designed for aesthetic practice owners and practice managers, and the official introduction of the KLC Practice Manager Academy. Built over two years of real-world application, this program was created to address one of the most critical gaps in the aesthetics industry: operational leadership. Because what gets a practice to its first level of success is rarely what sustains it as it grows. In this episode, we unpack the leadership challenges that...
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Episode 311: Bonus: How to Become the Kind of Leader You'd Want to Follow
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
In this bonus replay episode, I shared something really personal, and honestly, deeply relevant to anyone navigating growth as a business owner. While traveling during my son’s lacrosse season last summer, I found myself experiencing that familiar entrepreneurial anxiety…the kind that shows up when you’re away from your business and wondering if things are still running smoothly without you. That season pushed me to take a closer look at how I was leading, how I was protecting my energy, and what I was actually saying yes to in my day-to-day. It became about more than just time...
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Episode 310: Bonus: The Critical Role of a Practice Leader & When to Hire One
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
In this replay episode, we’re revisiting one of the most important leadership decisions every growing practice owner faces: should you promote someone from within, or bring in outside leadership talent? As founders, many of us build our businesses around the skills we know best—whether that’s clinical excellence or coaching expertise. But the transition from hands-on provider to visionary CEO requires a completely different leadership skill set. In this conversation, we unpack common mistakes that can slow growth, like overpaying for experienced hires before your business is ready, or...
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Episode 309: The White Glove Client Experience: Raising the Standard in Aesthetics (ALT Panel)
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
We’re taking you back into the room at our 2025 ALT Experience for a special replay from the stage. In this conversation, I sit down with founders and CEOs Meg Fox, Sara Trammell, and Allie Edwards to talk about what it really means to create a white glove patient experience inside a growing practice. Not the kind that feels forced or fancy for the sake of appearance, but the kind rooted in intention, standards, and leadership. We unpack how each of them defines white glove service in a way that fits their brand, and how they ensure it’s felt consistently, from the first click online to...
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Episode 308: Structure Without Micromanagement: The Leadership Shift Inside Growing Practices (ALT 2025 Replay)
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
This week on The Fierce Factor Podcast, we’re bringing you another powerful replay from the ALT Experience 2025 stage, and this one is all about what leadership really looks like inside a scaling practice. I sit down with three high-level operators and practice leaders, Amanda Siem, Melanie Crowley, and Liz Grad Murphy, for an honest, behind-the-scenes conversation about managing teams, building trust, and navigating the often complicated dynamic between founders and managers. We unpack what it actually takes to turn vision into action, how to coach instead of constantly fixing, and why...
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Episode 307: Retain to Grow: Designing Development Runways for High-Growth Employees (ALT 2025 Replay)
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
In this week’s episode, we’re bringing you a powerful panel replay straight from our ALT 2025 stage: Retain to Grow: Designing Development Runways for High-Growth Employees. On this panel, Kaeli is joined by Shelby Miller, DNP, Heidi Hermel, NP, and Rachel King, FNP-C. Each of these founders leads a thriving practice with strong team culture. And notably, each operates under a different compensation structure. Three different models. Three successful, growing organizations. This panel conversation dives deep into what it really takes to attract, develop, and retain top talent in today’s...
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Episode 306: Develop Your Voice of Impact: Part 3 with Krista Donargo, SGA
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
This episode is Part 3 of our special Develop Your Voice of Impact series, and it’s all about what happens when the stakes are high and the spotlight is on. In this conversation, Krista Donargo, SGA, dives into the difference between recorded content and live communication, and why so many brilliant leaders lose their power when they step on stage, lead a training, or answer questions in real time. From keynotes and panels to team trainings and high-pressure conversations, this episode breaks down what it really takes to speak with confidence, presence, and authority when things don’t...
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Episode 305: Develop Your Voice of Impact: Part 2 with Krista Donargo, SGA
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
Before Sara Blakely became the founder of Spanx, her life looked nothing like a success story. She failed the LSAT twice, was told she was “too short” at a Disney audition, and spent seven years selling fax machines door to door—hearing no over and over again. What changed everything wasn’t luck. It was how she treated rejection. Instead of seeing discomfort as failure, she treated it like training. In Part 2 of our Develop Your Voice Impact series, Krista Donargo, SGA unpacks how Blakely learned to fail forward, show up before things felt polished, and turn a scrappy idea into a...
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Episode 304: Develop Your Voice of Impact: Part 1 with Krista Donargo, SGA
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
In part one of our Develop Your Voice of Impact podcast takeover, KLC’s Strategic Growth Advisor, Krista Donargo kicks off a powerful three-part series designed to help high-performing founders become more confident, compelling, and magnetic communicators, online, in person, and on stage. This episode explores why so many accomplished leaders lose their authority the moment a camera turns on or they’re asked to speak publicly, and why it has nothing to do with skill. Krista unpacks the real culprit behind shaky confidence: self-conscious, performance-based communication. Through personal...
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Episode 303: Safety vs Growth
The Fierce Factor with Kaeli Lindholm
In this episode, I’m unpacking one of the most dangerous myths women are taught about success: that “playing it safe” is the responsible choice. This conversation was sparked by a reflection on 2016, the year I started KLC and the year my brother passed away, and a question that stopped me in my tracks: Is my life truly better because I chose growth over safety? What I’ve learned over the past decade is this: safety is often conditional, and comfort can be far more limiting than risk. I take you back to my corporate career at Bayer Healthcare, a role that looked secure by every...
info_outlineIf you’ve ever wondered what it really looks like to build a thriving, multi-location aesthetic business while staying grounded, humble, and values-driven… this episode is your permission slip.
Melissa Hubiak, MD is a quiet powerhouse, a contrarian thinker who has scaled her practice not by following the industry “rules,” but by rewriting them. From growing up with no electricity as the oldest of six, to navigating a pandemic right after a massive expansion, to purchasing multiple buildings and stepping into the role of CEO, Melissa has built her empire with resilience, creativity, and a whole lot of grit.
In our conversation, she opens up about:
- Transitioning out of the treatment room to lead a growing team
- Why she chose to buy businesses instead of selling
- Her real estate strategy (including how she purchased six buildings)
- Navigating trademark challenges, expansion fears, and identity shifts
- How confidence is created through action — not handed to you
- What it really takes to scale with integrity, clarity, and courage
This is an episode for the founder who’s craving expansion, but wants to do it the right way. The woman who senses a bigger vision calling her forward — and needs the reminder that she is capable of so much more than she realizes.
I can’t wait for you to hear Melissa’s story. It will change the way you think about leadership, growth, and what’s truly possible for your business.
Resources
→ Download the The Ultimate Practice Growth Audit & Save Your Spot for our 2026 Strategic Planning Masterclass
→ Learn more & secure your spot for Confidence to Scale Live
→ Join the Fierce Factor Society
→ Follow Kaeli on Instagram: @kaeli.lindholm
Additional Ways to Connect:
- Book a Discovery Call: Ready to scale with intention? Let’s map out your next strategic move.
Press play, and let’s dive in.