How Community And Franchising Helped Shaquanna West Build A Business She Didn’t Expect

When Shaquanna West set out to find more freedom from her corporate job in operations, she never imagined it would lead her to a business centered around a skill she didn’t even have. In July 2024, Shaquanna bought into the Pinot’s Palette franchise and opened her first location in Summit, New Jersey. Seven months later, she launched a second location and has since driven revenue up by 60%.

Her Agenda spoke with Shaquanna about the lessons she carried from corporate into entrepreneurship, how she’s scaling her business, and how she owns two thriving paint businesses despite not knowing how to paint.

Her Agenda: Let’s explore your background and tell me more about what you were doing in your 9-to-5 job before you entered the franchise.

Shaquanna West: My experience has been in governance and operations. I’ve had leadership positions, and I left one when I decided to go into this venture. I kept juggling with: Do I take this step? Do I continue to feel burned out? I worked as a director of governance and I managed a team of membership services employees for a funeral service organization in New Jersey.

Her Agenda: Okay, so what made you want to take the leap and go into franchising versus starting your own business? 

Shaquanna West: The opportunity came up by looking at different businesses for sale. I spoke with a woman who was selling her Pinot’s Palette. She explained to me what she was doing, the type of classes, the atmosphere, and invited me to come to a class. So I went to take the class and I had a good time. At the end of the class, we were all talking and communicating in a way that you would think we all came together. So I looked more into owning a Pinot’s Palette and what it entails. Having a franchise behind me was music to my ears and it made the transition a little easier for me.

Her Agenda: How did you know it was time to start the second location?

Shaquanna West: I was doing so well with my first location. My corporate experience helped me to understand operations and how to build a good team. So the artist is the nucleus of my company because they’re the ones who give the guests the experience. It was important for me to build a system and a structure that makes sense. The opportunity came up in New Jersey at a price that I could accept.

Her Agenda: What skills, lessons or even mistakes that you learned from your corporate job that you use now?

Shaquanna West: I came into this saying, “I want to be the manager that I want.” I want to allow my staff to come to me and talk to me. But it starts with the artist because they are directly reaching the customer. If the artists aren’t happy where they are, they’re not going to exhibit that in class. So that’s one of the biggest things that I took away from corporate and burnout. Be the manager that you want. 

Her Agenda: What advice would you give to women who are interested in entrepreneurship? What advice would you give to women who are interested in joining a franchise? 

Shaquanna West: Well, the first thing I would say is don’t wait until you think there is a right time. If you have an idea, you have to bet on yourself. You can’t be afraid to pivot. There’s going to be fear. As far as women going into franchising, I would say pick something that you enjoy or that you think you would enjoy, even if you don’t think you’re good at it. I stepped into an arena that I knew nothing about. I can’t paint to save my life, but I’m creative. I boldly went into a market that I didn’t understand. The only thing that I will say that I’m still struggling with is painting.