$6

Business Description

We are a North Dakota limited liability company, reorganized in North Dakota on December 23, 2015 (from Its original organization in Minnesota on July 13, 2004), and doing business under the name SPEC Before December 24, 2012, the name of the company was APS, LLC Our principal business address is 4377 15Avenue South, Fargo, ND 58103 Our agent for service of process is listed on Exhibit D to this disclosure document

Prior Experience

We have no parent We have no predecessors from whom we acquired, directly or indirectly, the major portion of our assets within the past 10-year period Our affiliate Salon Brand It, LLC, whose principal business address is 4377 IS*'' Ave S , Fargo, ND 58103, is a designated supplier of certain promotional products, under the trade name School Brand It In addition, our affiliate Fuel Productions, LLC (d/b/a Fuel Education Systems), whose principal business address is 15125 E Sundown Dr, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268, is a designated supplier of certain training materials Neither Salon Brand It, LLC nor Fuel Productions, LLC have ever owned or operated a beauty school franchise or offered franchises for any other line of business

Business Offered

A franchise grants you the right to own and operate a distinctive beauty school that trains students in hairstyling, cosmetology, esthetics, barbering, nails and/or massage services The franchised business may be operated under one of two different-sized models that you may choose from Each model is substantially the same in all respects except the square footage of the facility As noted, our schools may also offer training in massage services, but most do not Because some do, and you may elect to do so also (if you have sufficient space), references in this disclosure document to a beauty school or beauty services apply also to massage services to the extent you choose to offer training in this type of service Each franchise operates under the trademarks The Salon Professional Academy or Elevate Salon Institute You choose which trademark you prefer to use for your beauty school You may use only one of the two and your choice is known as your "Selected Trademark " When you choose your Selected Trademark you are entitled to use a particular line of products at your school that corresponds to your Selected Trademark Specifically, under our current requirements, if you choose The Salon Professional Academy you use Redken products and if you choose Elevate Salon Institute you use L'Oreal Professionnel products Your choice of Selected Trademark determines which SPEC-authorized brands you want to be associated with The method of applying or teaching the use of certain hair products (like coloring or cutting techniques) may differ based on brand, but the same types of hair products are used in all of our concepts regardless of which Selected Trademark you choose All of our topics of instruction, and all of our operating requirements, are the same among all of our concepts regardless of which Selected Trademark you choose No other material differences exist among our concepts In addition to these trademarks, our franchise system features uniform standards and procedures for business operations, ongoing training in the operation, management, and promotion of the franchised business, advertising and promotional programs, quality education facilities, customer development and service techniques, student recruiting and development, and other technical assistance

Initial Fees

When you sign your Franchise Agreement, you must pay us a $45,000 Initial Franchise Fee None of the payments described in this Item are refundable Except as follows, all initial fees are uniformly imposed Several franchisees who acquired franchise rights from us before December 31, 2013, may be entitled to waivers of initial fees due to special previous arrangements made for future franchised locations that they open Similarly, under franchise rights we previously granted, several franchisees are entitled to reductions in royalties from developing and operating multiple locations We reserve the right to grant reductions or waivers of initial fees and royalties, but we have no obligation to do so

Financing

ITEM 10 FINANCING We do not offer direct or indirect financing We do not guarantee your note, lease, or other obligations Franchisees are eligible for expedited and streamlined SBA loan processing through the SBA's Franchise Registry Program, www franchisereeistrv com

Franchisee Revenue and Profit

The FTC's Franchise Rule permits a franchisor to provide information about the actual or potential financial performance of its franchised and/or franchisor-owned outlets, if there is a reasonable basis for the information, and if the information is included in the disclosure document Financial performance information that differs from that included in Item 19 may be given only if (a) a franchisor provides the actual records of an existing outlet you are considering buying, or (b) a franchisor supplements the, information provided in this Item 19, for example, by providing information about possible performance at a particular location or under particular circumstances We do not make any representations about a franchisee's future financial performance or the past financial performance of company-owned or franchised outlets We also do not authorize our employees or representatives to make any such representations either orally or in writing If you are purchasing an existing outlet, however, we may provide you with the actual records of that outlet If you receive any other financial performance information or projections of your future income from us, our employees or our representatives, you should report it to the franchisor's management by contacting Jill Krahn at SPEC, 4377 15 Avenue South, Fargo, ND 58103, 888-478-6856 (or JKrahn@SPECfranchise com), the Federal Trade Commission, and the appropriate state regulatory agencies