When a customer walked into the Edina, Minnesota, pottery-painting studio Color Me Mine a few months ago, he carried a very specific and high-stakes mission. He was planning to propose to his girlfriend, and he wanted to do it with a custom-painted piece of pottery. Choosing a jewelry tray from the studio’s wide selection of mugs, plates, and bowls, he carefully inscribed the life-changing question: "Will you marry me?"

Typically, the studio’s owners, Antima Jain and Pooja Choudhary, require about seven days to fully process a customer’s artwork through glazing and kiln firing. Understanding the romantic urgency of the situation, however, the co-owners readily agreed to expedite the process, ensuring the keepsake was finished well ahead of schedule. Beyond just managing the production timeline, Jain and Choudhary stepped in to help curate the right atmosphere within the studio for the big moment.

The gesture left a lasting impression. Sometime later, the engaged couple returned to the studio to hand-deliver a save-the-date card that explicitly referenced the creative space where their next chapter began. For Jain and Choudhary, moments like these serve as powerful reminders of why they entered the business in the first place—to cultivate a welcoming environment where community members can connect, relax, and forge memories that last a lifetime.

That underlying sense of human connection forms the very bedrock of Jain and Choudhary’s personal and professional partnership. The two women first crossed paths 11 years ago at a social gathering in Minnesota, introduced by a mutual friend. At the time, both had immigrated to the United States from India, were deeply immersed in raising their respective children, and shared a passionate appreciation for creative projects and hands-on artistry.

What began as casual conversation at a party quickly blossomed into a deep, enduring friendship. They soon realized they lived just a three-minute drive away from one another, making spontaneous get-togethers effortless. As the years passed and their children grew older and more independent, the friends began to dream about channeling their shared energy into building a business together. By 2023, that shared dream transitioned into active exploration, leading them to investigate various franchise opportunities and visit an established Color Me Mine location nearby.

The moment they stepped inside, they were instantly captivated. The clean, highly organized, and vibrant atmosphere struck them as deeply calming and inspiring. Seeking a venture they could pour their passion into, they pooled their personal savings, committing roughly $300,000 to bring their own Color Me Mine franchise to life in Edina, which officially opened its doors in March 2025. Crucially, before signing any binding agreements or spending a single dollar of their capital, the two friends established a foundational pact: their friendship would always take absolute precedence over business operations. Whatever operational challenges or disagreements might eventually arise, they committed to resolving them through open communication rather than letting commercial pressures fracture their bond.

Their Immigrant Stories

Before stepping into the world of franchise ownership, both Jain and Choudhary navigated the complex, rewarding journeys common to many immigrant entrepreneurs.

Jain first arrived in the United States in 2003, accompanying her husband on a professional relocation project. After spending several years moving back and forth between India and the U.S., she and her family settled down permanently in Minnesota in 2012. Back in India, Jain had earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce and spent time teaching preschool. Upon establishing her life in America, she balanced part-time work at Kumon with raising her children. With both of her children now enrolled in college, she found herself at an ideal juncture to invest her time and energy into a fulfilling business venture.

Choudhary’s path to the United States followed a different trajectory, though it shared similar themes of adaptation and ambition. After marrying her husband, who was already living stateside, she relocated to the U.S. and pursued higher education, ultimately earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering. Residing in various states before finally landing in Minnesota around the same time Jain arrived, Choudhary balanced family life—raising two daughters, one in high school and another finishing middle school—with managing a secondary business in real estate investments, an enterprise she continues to operate alongside her studio responsibilities.

Deciding to Franchise

Venturing into the retail and creative services sector without prior industry experience presented a daunting hurdle for the first-time entrepreneurs.

Opting for a franchise model rather than launching an independent studio provided the exact safety net they needed. By partnering with an established brand, they bypassed the trial-and-error phase of inventing a business model from scratch, gaining access to a proven platform while maintaining operational independence within their local storefront. The structural guidance, standardized processes, and continuous technological updates—such as rolling out a unified point-of-sale system across the franchise network—offered immense reassurance.

Once they committed to the franchise path, the corporate team provided a designated operating territory, prompting the business partners to enlist a real estate agent to scour the Edina area for the ideal retail storefront. After evaluating numerous options based on critical factors such as foot traffic, parking convenience, and proximity to local parks and shopping centers, they secured a highly visible and accessible location.

Funding the venture entirely through personal capital rather than commercial bank loans allowed them to bypass traditional lending hurdles. By combining their individual financial resources to meet the low-end $300,000 startup requirement, they streamlined the launch process and solidified their equal partnership from day one.

Acquiring Customers

To build a loyal customer base and drive steady foot traffic from the ground up, Jain and Choudhary implemented a multifaceted local marketing strategy. They integrated themselves into the local business community by joining the chamber of commerce, participated in nearby art festivals, and hosted dedicated seasonal celebrations for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. To encourage repeat visits, they introduced recurring promotional events and distributed discount cards directly attached to finished pottery pieces, incentivizing customers to return to the studio within a month. Furthermore, they actively engaged with the local community by donating to charitable organizations and participating in school fundraising initiatives, establishing the studio as a supportive neighborhood staple.

The Realities of Ownership

Despite the joyful and creative atmosphere of a pottery-painting studio, daily operations come with unique challenges that caught the co-owners somewhat off guard. Chief among them has been the continuous cycle of hiring and managing staff. Because the studio largely employs part-time high school and college students whose academic schedules must always come first, turnover is an inherent part of the business model. As students graduate and move away for college, the co-owners must constantly recruit and train new team members.

A typical day for Jain and Choudhary is exceptionally demanding. In the absence of a full-time general manager, they share all managerial duties, alternating schedules or working side-by-side depending on the day’s demands. Their daily checklist spans everything from glazing pottery and managing payroll to running social media accounts, organizing community events, and overseeing administrative tasks.

Beyond staffing, the hardest part of the job involves navigating the rare occasions when a piece of pottery suffers damage in the kiln. Although it happens in less than one percent of cases, delivering the news to a customer who has poured hours of creative effort into a piece is a task both owners dread. To handle these rare mishaps gracefully, they routinely offer replacement pieces and waive studio fees, ensuring that a technical mishap never ruins a customer’s overall experience.

Planning Ahead and Protecting the Partnership

As they look toward the future, Jain and Choudhary remain steadfast in their commitment to protecting the friendship that brought them together. Their foundational agreement to prioritize open dialogue above all else has successfully steered them through the inevitable disagreements that arise in business. Viewing each other more like sisters than mere business associates, they express absolute confidence in their partnership.

Looking ahead, their ambitions for the brand continue to expand. Buoyed by their early success—which has included ranking in the top 25 systemwide and hitting sixth place globally for a single month—their primary sights are set on cracking the top five in franchise sales rankings. Beyond climbing the corporate leaderboard, both co-owners share a clear, unified vision of eventually expanding their footprint by opening a second studio location together.