As seen in the Sacramento Business Journal and BizWomen.
Sacramento area's fastest-growing companies show the entrepreneurial dream is still alive
By Adam Steinhauer
Day to day at the Business Journal, we hear a lot about how hard it is to run a business in Northern California. Between California laws and regulations, and recent years’ rising costs, there are many reasons businesses fail.
But make no mistake: It is still very possible to start and grow a business in the Sacramento region, and to create wealth and jobs. Each year, our Fastest Growing Companies list provides proof.
Tia Gemmell | Riverview Media Photography
Honorees at the Sacramento Business Journal's Fastest Growing Companies event on Aug. 8.
In the pages that follow is our annual list of the 50 fastest-growing companies that we can identify in the Sacramento region, with our top company, Sacramento Insulation Inc., achieving three-year growth of more than 900%.
As is our usual practice, we’ve interviewed and profiled the principals of four of the fastest-growing companies about their success and the challenges that have come with it.
Mason Builders’ executives credit their deep industry experience and connections for their ability to ride the waves in their industry.
Luxe Beauty & Body Co. founder Shara Gabaldon says that her early recognition of trends is what’s allowed her to turn what started as a side hustle into a multimillion-dollar venture.
Meanwhile, ProActive Pest Control founder Kyle Turner has achieved outsized growth in what is generally a stable and steady industry by focusing on building a good reputation online.
Together, these stories show that there are many ways to win in business. We hope that they provide you with inspiration and ideas for your own.
Luxe Beauty & Body Co.’s CEO works to stay ahead of trends
By Jake Abbott
Luxe Beauty & Body Co. CEO Shara Gabaldon has built her locally based beauty e-commerce and coaching business from a side gig into one of the fastest-growing companies in the region.
THE ESSENTIALS:
LUXE BEAUTY & BODY CO.
Rank on the Fastest Growing Companies list: 41
2023 revenue: $2.21 million
Three-year growth: 41.5%
Business: Beauty e-commerce and coaching
Founded: 2019
Founder/CEO: Shara Gabaldon
Employees: 11
Headquarters: Sacramento
The company, which has fewer than a dozen employees, has seen its revenues jump 41.5% over the last three years. In 2023, Luxe Beauty & Body Co., which sells beauty products and focused in-person and online training courses, generated more than $2.2 million in sales. Gabaldon started the business in 2019, spending her downtime in the evenings and weekends building the company while working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the day. Within a few months, she said the business was generating six figures a month, ultimately leading her to leave her day job to focus all of her attention on Luxe Beauty & Body Co. in 2021.
In an industry that is constantly evolving, Gabaldon credits her ability to stay ahead of trends and recognize opportunities as factors in the company’s ongoing success.
Robin Douglas | Contributor
Luxe Beauty & Body Co. CEO Shara Gabaldon has grown her beauty e-commerce and coaching business from a side gig into one of the region’s fastest growing companies.
“It started out as me providing noninvasive beauty and body services, then it just evolved into me expanding and providing education, which people really seemed interested in,” Gabaldon said. “When we started that education component, it has really just skyrocketed ever since.”
The company’s clientele ranges from salon or spa owners interested in providing specialized services to entrepreneurs wanting to get into the beauty industry. Each educational course has a corresponding starter supply kit or equipment needed for the specialized treatment.
One of Luxe Beauty & Body Co.’s bestsellers is a hyaluron pen, which is a needle-free device used to make lips look fuller. After releasing her first set of courses, Gabaldon realized she was on to something, generating approximately $1 million in sales within six months.
“We primarily promote and advertise our courses, and it’s understood that participants are going to provide that service,” she said. “In order to get certified and licensed in a course, they have to have the equipment, which we sell separately for online courses.”
Many of the company’s products are shipped from overseas. On multiple occasions, she’s run into challenges with shipping delays, which lead to holdups with order fulfillment for customers. There have also been instances where she’s had to take losses on shipments and reorder, but it’s rare.
She described those challenges as “typical hiccups” and part of the industry and entrepreneurship. What hasn’t been typical during the company’s latest growth are the personal challenges she’s had to overcome.
Luxe Beauty & Body Co. CEO Shara Gabaldon at the Sacramento Business Journal's Fastest Growing Companies event on Aug. 8.
In 2021, a year that Luxe Beauty & Body Co. generated more than $1.5 million in revenue, Gabaldon suffered from a bout of Covid that resulted in her being sent to the hospital and put on life support in a coma. She said doctors gave her a 20% chance to survive, but she ultimately recovered. A year later, she lost her son, who she said developed schizophrenia during her time in the hospital.
“It took its toll on me and definitely affected my business, but it also fueled my fire and desire to talk about self-care and mental health and to bring awareness to it from a business standpoint,” she said.
Gabaldon doesn’t foresee any major challenges facing the business moving forward aside from the need to stay ahead of trends. It requires her to constantly travel to beauty expos and meet with suppliers to learn about the latest products to gauge what the next top seller could be. There’s a risk in being an early adopter to a new trend, especially when placing international orders. The trick, Gabaldon said, is to start small and test the market before jumping all in.
“I will test it by pre-releasing a course and promote it by running ads — we have over 100,000 email and text subscribers, which we built organically,” she said. “That way, we can see what kind of excitement there is for a product or service.”
One area of opportunity she sees promise in is expanding into courses for what she said is the newest beauty trend in Japanese scalp spas, which she is now selling courses and products for. Since releasing her first scalp massage training course in February, she said Luxe Beauty & Body Co. has already generated just shy of $1 million in sales.