Aimee Blake grew up with entrepreneurs for parents and always knew she wanted her own business.
“It was a dream,” Blake told ABC15.
She noticed an opportunity to find a new market in the hair removal business.
“I’m half Latin so the hair removal options that were on the market just weren’t great. Traditional waxing or shaving just really wasn’t a solution for my hair type,” Blake said.
She had a vision for a better business using a paste made of sugar, water and lemon to remove hair with less pain and less damage. She and her husband Will mapped out their business on a napkin at a restaurant.
“You just sit down and you get to work,” Blake said.
Their work paid off. They opened their Sugar Sugar first location in Scottsdale, then one in Phoenix and now Chandler. They now have nine different franchisees with 48 total locations around the country.
At their location in Chandler, many of their neighboring businesses are franchises of one kind or another.
“Arizona is the eighth fastest growing state for franchise business model. Currently, there are more than 18,000 franchise businesses in the state,” said President and CEO of the International Franchise Association, Matt Haller.
The International Franchise Association is hosting its convention in Phoenix this weekend. Franchisees and franchisors met with lawmakers and community leaders on Thursday to go over their concerns and hopes for the industry to continue to grow in Arizona.
Right now the industry accounts for 195,600 jobs and an economic impact of $19 billion in the state. The hope is more consumers know that even big national brands are often local businesses.
“There are just real people that have a hope and dream to be business owners themselves,” Blake said.
“That’s a man or woman who lives in the community who might own one or a handful of locations,” Haller said. “Franchising is disproportionately owned by women, people of color and veterans. A lot of people own franchises that would not go into business otherwise.”
Blake said one of her joys is getting to work and meet other women in business.
“It gets you up in the morning,” Blake said. “There is just something so powerful about it for me. I love having conversations with women across the country that are hoping to do this for themselves.”
Haller said the Association is lobbying both Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly on legislation to support the industry. Sinema met with the Association in September.
