Austin Campbell has been involved with Sola Salon Studios since its inception in 2004. He now owns 13 locations in the San Diego, Calif., area and has no intentions of slowing down. “When we first opened Sola, I thought you were lying if you said we could have 10. Now 25 is very obviously in our sights,” Campbell says.
Sola was founded to create a supportive community for beauty professionals to achieve their dreams, which is one of the things Campbell was initially drawn to. Campbell says empowering entrepreneurs is the most rewarding aspect of his job: “You get a text or a call from somebody saying, ‘Hey, this has honestly changed my life.’ That’s just a shot of adrenaline and keeps me going and that’s why I absolutely love it.”
Sola is an innovative salon studios concept, where beauty professionals rent individual studios within each franchise location. This unique cross between real estate and a creative industry allows Campbell to manage minimal employees and work a flexible schedule, freeing him up to enjoy his two favorite hobbies—live music and yoga.
For Sola franchisees, having real estate experience is a plus but not having it isn’t a deal breaker because of the constant support Sola provides, including help selecting a competitive market for each location, extensive franchisee training before the opening of each location, and marketing concepts that can be easily incorporated into campaigns to attract tenants. Campbell says Sola even “provides a space designer who makes [your location] look like a Sola.”
For Campbell, Sola is his future. He says, “It’s a good business investment. But it’s more than that. I honestly really love what I do. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of it. I don’t think I’ll ever want to do anything else.”
