Advantages for First-Time Owners Include Fast, Low-Cost Franchise Startup Plus Wide-Ranging Support
- Jolita Sakmanaite, CEO and founder of Brilliant Massage & Skin, sought to make franchise ownership accessible for first-time business owners. That factor guided development of the business model.
- Quick, low-cost franchise startup is possible, particularly with pop-up or small-footprint franchises.
- Support includes help with site selection, lease negotiation and marketing. Training is comprehensive, and technology eases operations.
- The Brilliant Massage & Skin franchise offers a membership model to increase recurring revenue. And the brand has multiple revenue streams: massages, facials, waxing services, add-on services and retail sales.
As Jolita Sakmanaite developed the business model for Brilliant Massage & Skin, she envisioned her future franchisees. She anticipated that many would be massage therapists and estheticians who had never owned a business, and she wanted to make franchise ownership accessible for them.
That assumption figured heavily into her planning, and it’s a savvy one. According to the International Franchise Association’s 2026 “Value of Franchising” report, 64% of all franchisees – nearly two-thirds – are first-time business owners. As was Sakmanaite, when she opened her first Brilliant Massage & Skin spa in Burlington, Vt.
“I started as a solo practitioner, doing massages myself and building relationships one client at a time. Like many massage therapists and estheticians, I didn’t come from a business background. I had to learn everything from scratch – pricing, marketing, hiring, systems and most importantly, how to scale without burning out.”
Her Mission
Now Sakmanaite is on a mission to help other talented providers become first-time business owners of Brilliant Massage & Skin franchises. “They have the skill, the work ethic and the passion but not always the road map. I want to give them a path to franchise ownership that feels achievable, not overwhelming.”
The founder and CEO says one major challenge for starting the Brilliant Massage & Skin franchise was realizing that “being great at your craft doesn’t automatically make you successful in business. I made mistakes like underpricing, overworking and trying to do everything myself, experiences that shaped the systems we use today.”
In evolving Brilliant Massage & Skin from a one-location business into a franchise, Sakmanaite didn’t follow a traditional spa model. “I built something that works in real life, not just on paper. That includes flexible layouts, lean startup options, and systems that prioritize profitability, quality of service and happy employees. Instead of asking, ‘How do spas usually do this?’ I asked myself, ‘What actually works best for the provider and the client?’”
Creative, Practical Solutions
That mindset led her to creative solutions that are more practical, more efficient and more accessible, especially for first-time business owners, she says. But Sakmanaite adds that the business model works just as effectively for experienced investors as for solo practitioners who have never managed employees before.
The overriding attraction is the low-cost franchise startup. “They don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest,” the founder and CEO says. Longtime massage therapist Kristi Rosberg (below), for instance, opened a pop-up Brilliant Massage & Skin franchise with encouragement from Sakmanaite. A small spa with just a couple of treatment rooms is another economical startup option. Both approaches allow franchisees to launch quickly with a modest investment and begin generating revenue right away as they organically build a client base.
“From there, they can expand with more confidence – adding rooms, hiring staff and scaling at a sustainable pace while avoiding crash and burn. We don’t force growth. We guide it. This creates a much more sustainable path to franchise ownership, especially for providers transitioning from employee to entrepreneur.”
Franchisor Support
Another reassurance from Sakmanaite: Each franchisee receives hands-on, founder-led guidance and support across every stage of ownership. This includes:
- Assistance with site selection and lease negotiation. The focus is on securing second-generation spaces to reduce build-out costs.
- Comprehensive initial training. Operations, hiring and customer experience are among topics covered in training. After that, the franchisor provides weekly team script training calls, plus ongoing coaching and monthly franchisee calls.
- Marketing with branded materials and launch assistance. Each Brilliant Massage & Skin franchise has a mini-website that generates reviews and is designed to maximize search engine optimization on platforms such as Google and Meta. In addition, the franchise provides email and texting campaigns for retention and rebooking.
- Artificial intelligence tools. Enhanced client engagement and supply analytics along with a high-tech booking system and remote receptionists are included.
- A long-tested, adaptable business model. Best practices have evolved through real-world performance since the brand’s founding in 2017. The Brilliant Massage & Skin franchise also has developed preferential vendor relationships and product guidance that enhance unit profitability. “We continuously evaluate strategies and modify them to align with treatment and technological advances as well as changing consumer preferences,” Sakmanaite says. “We don’t just hand over a playbook. We walk alongside our franchisees as they build.”
Financial Pluses of the Franchise
The financial aspects of Brilliant Massage & Skin franchise ownership are enticing as well.
“One of the biggest advantages is our membership model, which creates consistent, recurring revenue. Instead of relying only on one-time appointments, franchisees build a stable client base that comes in regularly for massage or skin care services. This improves cash flow, retention and long-term business value.” Other perks are multiple revenue streams from massages, facials, waxing, add-ons and retail; high average tickets; and a system designed to maximize each treatment room’s productivity.
The franchise benefits from the overall boom in wellness and self-care services, too. The global massage therapy market should increase by 7.3% per year from now through 2030, according to Grand View Research, which notes that North America has the largest share (40.88%) of that market. Grand View Research projects that the global facial skin care market will grow 5.8% annually from now through 2030, and says North America makes up the largest segment of that market, 35.85%.
Sakmanaite says the considerations detailed above – the tested and refined systems built into Brilliant Massage & Skin – “create a path for franchise ownership that includes building wealth, creating freedom and taking ownership of their future. It’s an opportunity built by someone who has actually done the work. And we’re just getting started!”
More About the Brilliant Massage & Skin Franchise
To find further information about franchise opportunities, visit this Brilliant Massage & Skin webpage.
To read Sakmanaite’s advice to female entrepreneurs, click here.
