Like most Australian success stories, this one starts in a shed. After Melanie Gleeson opened her first Endota Spa in a residential house in 2000, her first head office was in an old coolstore in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula. “It was literally a tin shed with a cool room,” explains Gleeson. “We had twelve or so people working there, without any heat in winter or air-conditioning in summer.”
Gleeson, who started the business with a $5,000 credit card, says the hardest part wasn’t the absence of heating in the office, but the lack of awareness about the wellness industry. “Back then, we had to explain to people what a spa was,” she says. “It’s not a ‘spa bath,’ it’s a place where you come to take time out, reconnect with yourself and feel better.”
Nowadays spas need no explanation, unless you’re booking in for a New Age Light Therapy Treatment (it’s an anti-ageing facial FYI). In the past 17 years, Gleeson has seen a movement towards wellbeing and consciousness. She credits part of her success to this culture shift.
The rest of her success comes down to a whole lot of time and perseverance. Gleeson says she worked “all the time” in the early days, “Being 26 and not having a family, I was able to devote every minute to it. I think when you are so passionate and driven about your work; it’s quite easy to get lost in it.”
After 17 years, the hard work has well and truly paid off. Today, Endota is Australia’s largest network of spas with over 100 locations and 1000 staff. The network is worth somewhere between $60 million and $70 million.
While making her first million was a “super exciting milestone,” Gleeson says a bigger moment for her was when a person she didn’t know (and who wasn’t a friend of her mum’s), came in to her spa to buy a product for the first time. “That moment took it to a whole new level for me. To see someone buying a product because they loved it and not because they knew me, was when it felt real,” she recalls.
Now aged 42, Gleeson juggles her role as Founder and CEO with her family commitments and two sons. Since having kids, she’s had to learn how to say no to things. “I try to spend my time and energy on things I love. When you’re not doing things because you feel obligated, I think you feel more balanced,” she says.
Unfortunately, Gleeson says the trick to balancing work and life isn’t just having a facial every week. “It definitely helps, though,” she adds, with a laugh. Here she shares her words of business wisdom…
Secret to success: Listening to my intuition and trusting my gut.
Breakfast of champions: My husband makes an amazing cheese omelette (not every morning, though).
Best advice: Before I started the business, a friend said to me, “You can keep dreaming about this, or you can do it.” She was right, so I stopped dreaming and I did it.
Top interview tip: Make sure you understand the values of the company. Do your research and come prepared.
Coffee order: Generally, I have a lemon and ginger tea. But if I need a coffee, it’ll be a flat white with full cream milk.
Wind down: After a long week, I will book in for a massage or a facial, or take a walk on the beach. I also love to play Lego with my boys – I find it therapeutic.
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