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The Company is an established beauty school serving the Southern California market. Through long-standing regulatory approvals, accreditation, and federal student-aid eligibility, the Company delivers... Businesses Franchises Brokers Loading... Profitable Accredited Beauty School with Strong Growth Potential Los Angeles County, CA Asking Price:$2,600,000 Cash Flow (SDE):$683,346 EBITDA:Not Disclosed Gross Revenue:$1,454,418 Real Estate:Not Disclosed Established:2008 Profitable Accredited Beauty School with Strong Growth Potential Business Description The Company is an established beauty school serving the Southern California market. Through long-standing regulatory approvals, accreditation, and federal student-aid eligibility, the Company delivers practical, license-oriented training programs supported by a physical instructional campus, experienced instructors, and an operating model designed around both in-person hands-on training and online coursework.Key Investment Highlights:1. Attractive profitability profile with meaningful capacity-driven upside: The Company generated approximately $1.45 million of revenue and approximately $683,000 of seller’s discretionary earnings in FY2024, demonstrating the earnings potential before the benefit of potential post-close growth initiatives. Current active enrollment is approximately 45 students compared to stated licensed capacity of approximately 300 students, creating a clear utilization gap that may be addressed through admissions conversion, expanded scheduling, enhanced marketing, and additional cohort development.2. Accredited and federally eligible education business: The Company operates from an established regulatory foundation that includes accreditation, state-level approvals, and federal student-aid eligibility. This credentialed base is a meaningful differentiator because it supports affordability for students, enhances institutional credibility, and reduces the time, cost, and uncertainty a buyer would face in attempting to build a comparable education business from the ground up.3. Established programs and experienced instructional infrastructure: The business offers multiple approved career-training programs delivered through a hybrid format that combines hands-on instruction with online coursework. The instructional model is supported by experienced licensed instructors, existing curriculum, practical training infrastructure, and a campus configured for applied education. This provides an incoming owner with a functioning operating base rather than a concept-stage or pre-approval opportunity.4. Significant growth potential through utilization, scheduling, and program expansion: The Company is currently operating well below its stated capacity and has multiple identifiable growth levers. A buyer may be able to increase student starts by professionalizing lead follow-up, improving digital marketing, expanding class days and hours, adding evening or weekend cohorts, ramping newer approved offerings, and evaluating adjacent programs or additional locations subject to required approvals. The existing campus also includes underutilized space that may support future growth if demand is validated.5. Clean transition opportunity with seller support expected: After many years of ownership and operation, the sellers are pursuing a planned ownership transition. The business is being offered with an existing team, operating infrastructure, regulatory framework, and profitability profile already in place. Seller transition support is expected and should be defined in the purchase agreement. Qualified buyers will receive additional information only after execution of a confidentiality agreement and advisor screening.An acquirer gains a credentialed, profitable, and underutilized education platform with existing approvals, federal student-aid eligibility, experienced staff, campus infrastructure, and multiple practical paths to growth. Business identity, exact location, employees, students, landlord, vendors, regulatory contacts, and ownership details will be disclosed only to qualified buyers after NDA. Ad#:2520235 Detailed Information Reason for Selling: Retirement & Owner to focus on publishing industry related books Business Location Location: Los Angeles County, CA Real Estate: Owned Demographic Information for Los Angeles County Area Household Income Population Age Population Trend Population by Race/Ethnicity BizBuySell EDGE Financial Benchmarks for California Beauty Supply Stores Gross Revenue Benchmarks Cash Flow (SDE) Benchmarks EBITDA Benchmarks BizBuySell EDGE Listing Statistics Saved This Listing Listing Last Updated Appeared in Search Listing Detail Views BizBuySell EDGE Know the True Market Value Before You Make an Offer Get valuation data to negotiate with confidence. Get a Valuation Report Business Listed By: James Feng Transworld Business Advisors of North San Gabriel Valley View My Listings Phone Number 866-520-8347 Voice only (no SMS) Sponsoring Broker: Jonathan Cheung, CFA Ad#:2520235 The information in this listing has been provided by the business seller or representative stated above. BizBuySell has no stake in the sale of this business, has not independently verified any of the information about the business, and assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness. Read BizBuySell's Terms of Use before responding to any ad. Learn how to avoid scams. Contact Form Full Name* Enter a valid Full Name Phone Number Enter Phone Number Email Address* Enter Email Address Optional Message Yes, send me the Buyer Newsletter for popular businesses, tips, & email promotions. Optional: Check if you want to use IRA/401k funds ($75K+) to buy a biz - Guidant will call Send Message By clicking the button, you agree to BizBuySell’s Terms of Use and Privacy Notice Business Listed By: James Feng Transworld Business Advisors of North San Gabriel Valley View My Listings Phone Number 866-520-8347 Voice only (no SMS) Sponsoring Broker: Jonathan Cheung, CFA Your request has been sent. What Happens Next? is reviewing your details. A representative will reach out soon to discuss your options. Expect a response in 1-2 business days. Report an issue with this listing Similar Listings Beauty Supply Stores for Sale Schools for Sale All Businesses for Sale in Los Angeles County Fairfield GEM: $1.5M EBITDA + Rare Drive-Thru + Real Estate Option! 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Why we like it
- Earnings quality is strong for a sub-$1.5M business, with $683K SDE on $1.45M revenue, a 47% margin that reflects how education economics work once accreditation, campus, and instructor costs are covered. Incremental students drop a high share of tuition to the bottom line, so the operating leverage above breakeven is real and meaningful.
- The moat is regulatory rather than brand or technology. Accreditation, state approvals, and federal Title IV student-aid eligibility are slow, expensive, and uncertain to obtain, which is why a new entrant cannot simply launch a competing school next door. That credentialed base is the single most defensible feature of this deal.
- Vocational beauty education holds up reasonably well in downturns because people retrain into licensed trades when other job markets soften, and federal student aid insulates students from out-of-pocket affordability pressure. Cosmetology is a licensed profession with steady demand, not a discretionary hobby program.
- The capacity gap is the clearest operator advantage we have seen in a while: 45 active students against roughly 300 licensed capacity. The fixed cost base is largely already paid for, so a buyer who can fill even half the unused seats could potentially double or triple SDE without building new infrastructure or chasing new approvals.
How to improve it
- Professionalize admissions and lead follow-up in the first 90 days. With only 45 of ~300 seats filled, the fastest dollars come from converting existing inquiries, so install a CRM, define response-time SLAs, and staff a dedicated admissions rep measured on application-to-start conversion.
- Rebuild digital marketing around intent-based channels. Beauty school prospects search aggressively before enrolling, so dial in Google search ads, a conversion-optimized landing page, and a Spanish-language funnel given the LA County demographic. Track cost per enrolled student, not cost per lead.
- Add evening and weekend cohorts to monetize the existing campus and instructors across more hours. The listing explicitly notes underutilized space and scheduling capacity, and night cohorts capture working adults who cannot attend daytime classes, expanding the addressable applicant pool without new fixed cost.
- Scrutinize and protect the Title IV federal student-aid pipeline, then optimize program packaging around it. Aid eligibility drives affordability and conversion, so ensure compliance is airtight and structure programs to maximize the share of students who can finance tuition through aid rather than cash.
- Launch one or two adjacent approved programs to deepen wallet share per campus. Esthetics, nail technology, barbering, and instructor licensing are natural extensions that share facilities and staff, and each new approved offering creates an additional enrollment funnel against the same fixed overhead.
- Build employer and salon partnerships to create a placement-to-enrollment flywheel. Strong job placement statistics are the most powerful marketing asset a vocational school can own, so formalize relationships with local salons and spas and publish outcomes data to lift conversion.
- Implement basic KPI dashboards across the funnel: leads, applications, starts, retention, completion, licensing pass rates, and placement. Education businesses live and die on completion and placement metrics, and a buyer needs weekly visibility to manage growth into capacity without quality slipping.
Diligence notes
- Verify the accreditation, state approvals, and federal Title IV eligibility are current, in good standing, and transferable on a change of ownership. Title IV often triggers a Department of Education review and provisional re-certification when the school changes hands, which can delay aid disbursement and threaten the entire revenue model, so confirm the timeline and conditions before close.
- Pull cohort-level enrollment, retention, completion, and licensing exam pass rates for the last three to four years. The 45-student figure needs context: is enrollment declining, flat, or seasonal, and are completion and placement strong enough to justify the bullish capacity-fill thesis or has demand structurally weakened?
- Stress-test the cohort default rate and any federal compliance metrics like gainful employment or the 90/10 rule. High student loan default rates or compliance failures can jeopardize Title IV eligibility, which would collapse the deal's core moat, so review prior audits and any correspondence with regulators.
- Confirm the real estate arrangement and true occupancy cost. The listing says real estate is owned but lists it as not included; clarify whether the campus is owner-owned and will require a market-rate lease post-close, since a sweetheart owner rent today could understate the real cost structure and inflate reported SDE.
- Examine the SDE build-up and add-backs in detail. A 47% margin is high, so confirm instructor compensation, owner roles being replaced, marketing spend, and whether the school has been underinvesting in growth in ways that artificially boost current earnings but cap future scale.
- Assess instructor dependency and licensing requirements for staff. Accredited programs require credentialed instructors at specific ratios, so confirm key instructors will stay through transition and that scaling enrollment will not be bottlenecked by an inability to hire qualified licensed teachers.