How did you get into the industry?
My journey into this amazing industry began at Empire Beauty School State College and dove right in 2011 at Aafusion Spa Salon as their lead aesthetician. I continued honing my skills and learning as much as I could about the industry throughout the years, choosing to open my Medspa Institute of America in November 2015. On another exciting note, I have my book coming out this year called Taking Beauty to the Next Level.
Tell us about your franchise model.
This franchise model is incredibly unique in the franchise marketplace. Our entire program is run through a real clinic where we teach Lasers, Injectables, Lashes, Esthetics, AP, and Microblading. This model helps our students step into the thriving medical spa industry, which is extremely rewarding! There is nothing like this training program that can make them be more prepared for the medical industry with aesthetics. As aestheticians, we are much more valuable than just doing treatments. Doctors rely on us to sell, do consults and be educated on everything the clinic offers. This field is growing at an incredible rate and so are the opportunities!
Where do you see opportunities or challenges in the business moving forward?
This industry is growing at an exponential rate! We are thrilled to be at the forefront of developing new generations of the workforce to keep the industry standards high. The demand is a huge opportunity. Research says that the medspa industry will reach 33.9 billion USD by 2026! Challenges came up back in 2020 when we first had to adjust how to navigate some of the stricter policies, however, our standards have always been stringent, so it ultimately served as an opportunity for us to hone our processes.
What are your unique points of training and support?
Training and education are literally what we do! We have an excellent training program set up for our franchise partners to utilize, which is two phases initially, and then offer ongoing refresher courses throughout their agreement. Our team is here to support our franchisees, too, helping with things like operations, marketing, initial accounting, and more.
Describe a difficult moment in your franchise journey.
So far, the franchise journey has been amazing so far. I wouldn’t note a difficult moment, per se, more that it’s been a lot of work upfront in order to get everything ready for selling the franchise.
Define your Franchise Model:
A. Training and Support Model?
We provide two phases of training, including hands-on instruction at our headquarters in Minnesota followed by hands-on instruction at the franchisee’s location. Ongoing support pertains to administrative, operational, tech troubleshooting, marketing strategy, client relationships, and more. I help with site selection.
B. What is the Fee Structure?
Franchise Fee: $45,000
Royalty: 7% of gross sales from studio revenues
Investment Range: $485,433 to $1,063,000
C. Territory Definition?
Territory includes a 250,000-population center (up to 500,000) and up to a 10-mile radius
What does your franchisee do in the business every day?
Our franchise partners will be actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the business, overseeing professor acquisition, operations, admissions, and more. It’s vital that our franchisees understand how to market themselves within their exclusive territory and are expected to actively market.
Describe the ideal franchisee.
Our franchisees need to have a grasp of the medspa/aesthetics industry and understand the incredible value of our model for the industry. They will be great at client relationships (word-of-mouth referrals are huge for us), always operate with complete integrity, and can hire the very best instructors for our students.
Do you have any success stories you would like to share?
My success story is my own. Starting out 2011 and then, just 4 years later, launching this unique educational business, then franchising in 2020 — I can’t say how excited and blown away I am at the response and progress.
What are your goals for your company in the future?
I understand that Medspa Institute of America is an incredibly unique, one-of-a-kind franchise model. My goal for the company is to continue to grow through franchising, and by expanding the reach of quality education within the aesthetics industry, raising the bar for quality services throughout the nation!