From farm kid to Fortune 500®: Former WHS stand-out athlete Robin Schoh finds strong correlation between rural Iowa upbringing and success as co-founder of booming business venture Waxing The City

The road from smalltown rural Iowa to the Fortune 500® won't be found on any map or GPS unit, but Waukon High School 1981 graduate Robin Schoh may be a good one to ask directions from.

The former stand-out athlete for the Indians in her high school days, who may best be remembered locally for her athletic prowess that earned her All-Conference and All-State recognition in three different sports: basketball, softball and track, is now the co-founder of a steadily growing business that has been ranked among the business world elite on the Fortune 500® list compiled by Entrepreneur magazine. Making that prestigious list last year was only another step forward, however, as this year's list unveiled in January showed Schoh's 2003-founded Waxing The City body waxing company had zoomed from its initial #392 spot on that 2016 list to the even more elite top 100 at #89 for 2017.

“I am deeply humbled by the success of Waxing The City,” said Schoh, Director of Franchise Sales for Waxing The City who currently lives in Colorado. “The brand was started by myself and three business partners in Denver, CO with a goal of having one successful studio. To break into the coveted top 100 ranking on the Franchise 500® list is somewhat surreal, and what brings it full circle to me personally, is the opening of a Waxing The City studio so close to home in La Crosse, WI.”

That franchise opening in La Crosse was celebrated just a few weeks ago, February 3, offering Schoh an opportunity to return home to also spend time with her parents, Leon and Jane Schoh of Waukon. It was during that visit home that Schoh was able to share her thoughts on how her rural upbringing in northeast Iowa planted the very roots of her growing success.

"I give all the credit in the world for any of the success I've had in life to where I came from and how my parents raised me," she acknowledged. "It starts with family and the support you're given growing up. The way my parents raised me growing up on the farm near smalltown Iowa has provided me the foundations of hard work, dedication and doing the very best with what I've been given, and for me that's translated into something beyond even my own expectations."

Adding to that initial foundation instilled by her parents as she was growing up was the broadening experience of life lessons she also learned during her high school athletic career, another source Schoh gives a tremendous amount of credit to for the foundations of her success. "Most often, success in business comes from forming and working with a great team, and working within the team concept is something I can trace back to my days as a high school athlete," she said. "The team work, the accountability, the responsibility for giving your very best for your team are all principles that were instilled in me by my high school coaches and taken to heart by myself and my teammates. Valuable lessons that not only translated into success on the court, field or track, but also carried over into life."

Following her high school graduation, Schoh went on to earn an Associate of Arts degree from Waldorf College in Forest City in 1983, followed by a series of degrees from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO that included a Bachelor of Science degree in 1987, Master of Science degree in 1989 and Master of Business Administration degree in 2001. Pursuit of that second master's degree came after she fell victim to downsizing in the healthcare industry in the late 1990s.

Within a couple years of completion of that second master's degree, however, Schoh was co-founder of a specialty body waxing-only studio called “Waxing The City.”  The group's first Waxing The City (WTC) studio opened in the trendy LoDo neighborhood of Denver, CO in 2003. By 2010, Waxing The City added three studios in the greater Denver area and also expanded to Dallas, TX.

"It was just an idea that a friend of mine and I discussed in general one time, and it just grew from there - bigger than we ever thought possible," Schoh said. "I highly doubt that any of my high school classmates or teammates would have ever thought I would end up in the beauty industry, but here I am."

In 2013, the co-founders of the fitness franchising giant Anytime Fitness partnered with Schoh and the other co-founders of Waxing The City in an effort to expand the business worldwide. That dream is quickly becoming a reality, with the recent Franchise 500® accolades providing undeniable proof of that.

Considered the world’s first, best and most comprehensive ranking of the top franchise opportunities in the United States, the Franchise 500® list recognizes and celebrates top franchises based on “financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of franchise system.”

"We were looking to Anytime Fitness for help with our expanding business model because the four of us (co-founders) were thinking this thing was growing faster than any of us were prepared to handle," Schoh explained. "After meeting with them and explaining our business model, it turns out they liked our model as much as we envied there's, and the two came together in a pretty natural fit."

In a just a little over three and a half years since, Waxing The City (whose parent company, Self Esteem Brands, also owns perennial-Franchise 500® powerhouse Anytime Fitness) has sold an impressive 157 franchise territories. Waxing The City also opened 27 new units in 2016, growing by more than 64 percent. Company executives expect to sign another 60 franchise deals in 2017, putting a heavy focus on growing the brand’s footprint in Detroit, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Salt Lake City.

Much of Waxing The City’s success can be attributed to the brand’s meticulous training and operational systems, the latter of which has been Schoh's area of specialty. Waxing The City’s extensively-trained technicians are experts who concentrate exclusively on providing body waxing services in a clean, inviting and urban-chic environment. Waxing The City excels at providing luxurious and comfortable waxes by using two custom-formulated waxes - a hard wax with a beautiful blue color made with Azulene, an ancient oil that soothes and exfoliates the skin for facial waxing, and a golden-hued soft wax formulated to comfort the skin as it lifts off even the most stubborn hair during body waxing.

For more information about Waxing The City, visit www.waxingthecity.com or call 866-956-4612.