Scott Simcik is charming and quite helpful to the potential franchisees, however he doesn't really intend for them to succeed. He is advertises on potential franchisee sites a low ball start up cost that clearly doesn't even begin to cover the enormous costs of running this type of franchise. Some centers have closed after being in debt well over $100,000 and never received a salary. He stresses that is is better to lease the equipment, rather than buy (you need your cash flow) and he has the person to make that happen. I'm sure he is getting a kick back from the leasing agent on every franchise he sells.
He has people to help you secure a location, but these people can't possibly know every location, so if a bad location is picked and you fail, too bad. He has individuals who offer their service to hire candidates and you can pay a fee to the recruiter. Again, he gets a kick-back from the recruiter. You can hire someone on your own by placing an ad and using your common sense, therefore no additional fee.
He has a compelling and professional website with all sorts of information and has traning seminars throughout the year and for a additional fee you can come and learn. At these seminars, there are tons of documents, that are virtually useless for running a salon. He does provide software (QuickBooks) for them to run their business and even offers training on that of course for an additional fee. There is no assistance on how to secure a bookkeeper which is very important to running a business, nor to obtain the necessary forms to get a license and all the other red tape to running a business.
Here is an industry that doesn't require prior knowledge, in fact you don't have to know anything. It is implied that if you follow the business model, you won't fail. Well people have failed and a lot of them!
If his business assistance was half as wonderful as his website, the franchisee's might have a better chance of succeeding. He has never visited any of the open salons and doesn't seem to care if the brand is tainted or not. If this one happens to go under another sucker will pay him the royalty fee (at least $30,000) and perhaps take the same location to save money on buildouts, financing, etc. So Scott actually benefits when a salon fails. He gets another franchisee fee rather than the weekly royalty fee that a salon must pay for the privledge of being a franchise.
He clearly doesn't pay his people what they're worth and has gone through 4 administrative assistants. There was one that was really good, she was there almost a year and now she is somehow gone. My guess is she wanted more money and to be treated with respect. He can be very tempermental (maybe bi-polar) and CHEAP! I stay because I am older and have a good deal going since I work off site. One other girl received a raise, but not as much as she deserved. If she abruptly quit, the whole business would suffer since she and I have a direct relationship with the franchisees. We solve their problems, not Scott. We don't know what he does all day, but he gets a large salary.
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