College Sweethearts Find Way to Work with Each Other as Franchisees with Sport Clips

Dan and Angie Roberts did not take lightly their decision to invest in a franchise. Before making a decision, the couple attended a night course at their local community college to become better educated about franchising.  Dan says, “The biggest thing we took away from the course is to select a franchise that will fit your lifestyle.” With that objective in mind, Dan and Angie set out on a path that would change their lives and provide them the lifestyle flexibility they always wanted.

Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Angie learned the meaning of hard work at an early age. Dan was raised by a single mom who often had to be away from home to make ends meet. Together, they found love as college sweethearts, earned marketing degrees and married right after graduation.

After moving to Omaha for Dan's medical sales work, Angie took a job managing a telemarketing team. She became pregnant with their first child a year later and made the decision to be a stay-at-home parent.

As their daughter grew to be a toddler, Dan was also looking for a way to be home with his family rather than on the road or on call for work.  By the time their family grew to four, Dan was even more committed to finding a way to spend more time at home.

Dan and Angie first considered starting a franchise Angie could run from home. Angie says, “I still wanted to stay at home with the kids, and Dan was looking for a change, but we didn’t want to buy a job either.”

It was around that time Dan visited a Sport Clips Haircuts for the first time. He was especially keen to find a haircut place where he felt comfortable. His former hairdresser in Iowa was so close to the couple, he attended their wedding. The shoes were large to fill, but Dan felt at home right away at Sport Clips. He loved the MVP Haircut Experience and that was enough to pique his interest in the franchise.

Upon further investigation, Dan knew Sport Clips was the opportunity they were looking for, as Angie could hire a manager and mostly run it from home. “Sport Clips represented a franchise we could work on but did not necessarily have to work in. We didn’t have the time to come up with our own concepts and business model. I really liked the Sport Clips values, which are to do what’s right, do what’s best, and to treat others like they want to be treated,” says Angie.

From their first location in Omaha in 2007, Angie came in with a defined point of view on how she was going to treat people. Having witnessed a colleague at her previous telemarketing management job who didn’t treat employees well, Angie’s philosophy was to provide what her employees’ needed and to be sympathetic to their already difficult job. Angie’s telemarketing team continued to perform well, and she took on the same philosophy at Sport Clips, never asking something of her employees she wouldn’t do herself. 

Fast forward ten years, and the couple’s business has grown from that first location to eight stores. One of their Omaha locations earned Sports Clips’ most prestigious award at the 2017 National Huddle, the Logan Trophy.

Named in honor of Gordon B. Logan, the CEO and founder of Sport Clips, the award is presented each year to the team leader and team who have demonstrated they have “the heart of a champion” by their achievement of the highest standards in championship client services, resulting in superior growth in services and retail sales, client counts, and average service tickets.

“Dan and Angie represent the best qualities of our Sport Clips Team Leaders. They have set an outstanding example for not only being superior operators, but by living our values every day. They have not just one but eight of our best performing Sport Clips, which comes from their dedication to excellence, team building efforts, and years of hard work. We congratulate them for this recognition for being the “best of the best” for 2016, and thank them for the contributions they have made to the success of Sport Clips in Nebraska and our entire system,” says Gordon Logan.  

Initially, Dan kept working while Angie ran the stores. “Four years ago it became evident we had grown large enough; too large for Angie to handle on her own.  We knew we needed to work together on it,” explains Dan. Soon their success allowed him to quit his stressful job to help Angie manage all the metropolitan Omaha locations.  Dan now had the time to participate in his kids’ activities, and together, he and Angie gained the lifestyle flexibility they had dreamed of. When asked about the best part of working together, both noted being active in their kid’s lives is priceless.

Angie and Dan attribute their success to their team members, some of whom have been with them since they opened that first store ten years ago. Of the Logan Trophy honor, Angie says, “The Logan Trophy means a lot; it feels really good. It sounds cheesy, but I believe Dan and I really treat our people well. We are genuine. My team is more important than our clients; I don’t have any clients if I don’t have my team.

“I couldn’t have imagined our Sport Clips success would become as big as it is. Ten years ago, if you would have said we would now own eight stores, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s a great company, and you can be successful here.” 

For more information on becoming a Sport Clips franchise owner click here.