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Leveraging her hospitality and entrepreneurial experience, Gates has created a supportive environment for beauty professionals to succeed.
When Sharon Gates walks through her thriving Sola Salons location, greeting nearly 30 beauty professionals who've built independent businesses under her roof, she can't help but see reflections of her own entrepreneurial journey. The warmth in her interactions with her salon suite owners isn't just natural hospitality — it's the understanding of someone who's walked the path from corporate employee to business owner herself.
Gates’ path to Sola Salons ownership began almost serendipitously when her husband, Chris, was approached by a franchise consultant. After thoughtful conversations about their interests and aspirations, the consultant presented three potential franchise opportunities. Among them, Sola Salons immediately resonated.
"When we heard about Sola, it just jumped off the page to us and felt like a perfect match," Gates said.
The connection made perfect sense. Throughout her career, Gates had accumulated experiences that uniquely prepared her for this role. Years managing rental properties had familiarized her with the landlord-tenant relationship. Her extensive hotel career had ingrained exceptional customer service habits. And perhaps most importantly, having left corporate hospitality 13 years earlier to launch her own meeting planning company, she intimately understood the entrepreneurial transition her beauty professionals were making.
"I branched out to own my own meeting planning company, and it was the best move I ever made," she said. "I felt like I wanted to help other people do that, too — to branch out from working in a salon to being a business owner."
The Gates approach their Sola franchise as true partners, each bringing complementary strengths to the business while maintaining their full-time careers.
"My background has been in hotels and hospitality my whole life, which I think is a very solid background to have with Sola," she said. "When I tour potential salon owners, I almost feel like I'm touring a hotel room in my daytime job."
While Gates handles the relationship-building aspects of the business, doing things like giving tours and recruiting beauty professionals, her husband leverages his finance background to manage business operations. This natural division allows them to create a complete support system for their beauty professionals.
"Anyone that comes through Sola — if I'm walking around with a new prospective Sola pro and giving them the first tour — I could tell them, 'You can talk to anyone in here about myself and Chris when I'm not around and ask their opinion,’” Gates said. “And I feel 100% confident that they will give rave reviews.”
This confidence doesn't come from perfection; it comes from responsiveness. When maintenance issues arise, Gates’ beauty professionals know a simple text will bring immediate attention. She maintains a group chat where professionals share opportunities, from a tattoo artist offering discounted services to announcements about pizza in the break room.
Her hospitality background shines through in personal touches that transform a landlord-tenant relationship into a true partnership. She collects information about each professional's birthday, favorite fruits and drinks — not just as data points, but as opportunities to make meaningful connections.
Managing a Sola franchise while maintaining a full-time career and raising three children requires exceptional organization, but Gates’ background in meeting planning equipped her with the skills to create efficient systems that support her vision.
In addition to following the guidance provided by the Sola corporate team, Gates has built her own systems to further streamline operations.
"I came up with a lot of processes and procedures to not reinvent the wheel," she said. "For example, I’ve created email templates to use as new Pros are onboarding to ensure they have the resources they need at each step.”
These systems help Gates to maintain the personal touch that defines her leadership style while ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Currently, Gates and her husband are working toward opening a second location next year, expanding their positive impact to even more beauty entrepreneurs. Despite inevitable challenges and the occasional difficult conversation, they have remained true to a service-oriented approach.
"There have been some bumps in the road with a brand new location and little things that have come up, but we've always taken good care of our folks to make sure they're happy," she said.
For prospective Sola investors, Gates’ journey demonstrates how personal experience, genuine care and systematic thinking can create an environment where both franchise owners and beauty professionals thrive together.
"If the Sola Pros are successful, then I'm happy,” she said. “I'm successful, too. It’s a win-win for all parties."
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/sola-salons.
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