Franchisee Voices: Aaron Gillaspie of Hand & Stone

Aaron Gillaspie had tremendous success in the education industry straight out of college. When he decided to leave New York for Texas with his wife, he looked into franchising and found Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa. His passion for health and wellness and the model of the business led him to be a franchisee with the brand.

1851 had a chance to catch up with Aaron to learn more about his background and his path to Hand & Stone. 

Tell us a little bit about your background.

I was born in Lincoln, Neb., but raised in Littleton, Colo., where I went to high school. I eventually went back to Lincoln to play college football at the University of Nebraska. I was a fullback for the Cornhuskers and graduated in 2009 and joined the Teach for America corps out of school. I studied entrepreneurship in college but I quickly learned that I wanted to do a lot more with teaching and working with kids. 

Soon after that, I got an opportunity from Teach for America to be placed in the Bronx where I found a lot of success helping kids in the 7^th and 8^th grades improve test scores. I was up for National Teacher of the Year and my teaching methods showed up on some radars. I was then asked to travel across the county to speak with schools on how they can modify their teaching practices. Soon after that, I was given the opportunity to create a charter school from scratch that utilized the best tools and teaching models.

From there, it was up to me to decide the school’s name, curriculum, staff, school colors – everything. I earned my master’s degree in elementary middle school education from Hunter’s College in New York and from National-Louis University during this time as I began to develop my charter school.

I decided to found Brilla College Preparatory Charter School in the Bronx, N.Y., to create an environment where parents, children and teachers could thrive together. That was in November of 2012 and I spent the next three years there. It was up to me to manage a $4 million budget, oversee our 40+ employees, all while being 26-years old.

We had a lot of success as a team, but I got engaged last year and now that I’m married we determined we couldn’t raise a family in New York. Since my wife had attended the University of Texas and still had family in the area, we felt it was the right time to move on. I was leaving Brilla in a good place – we had expanded preschools and had really built something, so I stepped down. I love education and I love Brilla so I wanted to take it to Houston.

I then took the time to figure out a plan and I decided that I wanted to pursue franchising. It was then that we started the Willis Park Corporation. The name comes from the origins of where and how we founded Brilla, so it means a lot to us. We want to see people thrive and we want to see different cultures flourish. We started up in July and we’re working on bringing more Hand & Stone locations to the area. Now, I’m taking it upon myself to create an atmosphere to help people find jobs and flourish in them. I want to create a good work environment for people.

Why did you choose to become a franchisee with Hand & Stone? How did you learn about the brand?

We liked the model – the reoccurring revenues, membership model appealed to us – and I liked the industry. Health and wellness is an industry I believe in, especially because I get massages all of the time! Since there are only six Hand & Stone locations in the area, I liked the idea of developing the brand and I liked how affordable it was. Customer service clearly means a lot to the entire company and it’s an affordable country-club lifestyle.

What’s next for you and your business? Do you have any development or expansion plans with the brand?

We’re opening our first location in Memorial but Cinco Ranch is locked down for an opening next year in a lifestyle center that’s currently under construction. Once that’s ready to go, we will be, too. We also own the greater Heights, the territory along the I-10 corridor. But there’s no need to rush. We are already looking for more locations down the road. We want to grow the market more and we’re always on the lookout for great deals and merging acquisitions.