Tanning the Furry

Tanning the Furry
Have male clients? Are you nervous about tanning past a hairy leg or arm?
Tanning past the hair is not a problem. The problem comes from tiny micro-droplets of solution sitting on the shafts of hair, eventually transferring to the skin, and creating small freckle like spots all over the skin. The good news is this problem is easily overcome! So expand your client base to men with confidence. Just follow these two easy steps.
Step One: Tan as Normal. Tanning a man is no different than tanning a woman: back, sides, front, face, etc. .
Step Two: Take a clean paper towel and run it slowly down the arms, legs, etc. . . without ever touching the skin. The paper towel will wick away the excess moisture from the hair without damaging the tan on the skin.
Voila! A flawless tan again!

Now, how to get those male clients. . .
I have a few suggestions for reaching this market.
1. Gyms. Go to the source of men that care about their bodies and how they look. Especially for competitions.
2. Go through their wives. Offer specials before Christmas Party Season or Family packages for family portraits. Offer couple specials for on-site tanning. Women like to see their men tanned so use that angle to get in the door!

The heat is on. . . growing your business during the Summer.

The heat is on. . .
Oh man. It is hot out there. As the temperature rises, so does the likely hood that people are going to spend their days in the sun, by the pool, and on the beach. And yes, that means they are less likely to need a spray tan.
This is why it is super important to always be growing your tanning clientele and to make sure that you have clients from all parts of our market. And to make sure we are constantly move your clients up the ladder to the next level of tanning.
What is our market? I think it breaks down into three parts.
1. Our best clients are probably the smallest part of our market. These are the weekly tanners. These clients buy one package after another and tan almost every week. They are loyal to us as sprayers. They refer us clients on a regular basis. So far this is the smallest percentage of my business at about 10%. I am always working to grow this segment but understand that (at least in my geographical area) that this will probably always be the least represented segment of my business as the disposable income is not as high here as in other areas.
2. Next are our occasional tanners. This is the area of my business that I feel has the greatest potential for growth. These are the ones that tan every month or two months. They tan for events, holidays, and date nights. They are not weekly and don’t buy packages but they come often enough for you to know about their lives and children and know that if they are there to see you they have something exciting that they want to look good for to do coming up. This segment is a great segment to sell product too. Your weekly tanners don’t really need product, they are always coming to see you but these women (and men) want to be tanned but can’t get to you every week and Tan in the Can or Facial Bronzer will allow them to maintain their glow a little longer. This segment makes up probably 50% of my business. Specials on tan packages and before holidays are a great way to get them back in the door if they have been absent too long.
3. The final group of tanners is the One-Timers. This segment of my business tans once a year. These are the people that tan every year before their cruise or for Easter or Prom. They have one event they tan for and that is it. Keep in contact with your One-Timers. Sure they may not be back for year but by receiving bi-monthly emails or an occasional phone call you may be able to move them up the ladder to occasional tanner. They know they love the product, they just have not committed to it yet. Can’t move them to the next level? If you never get a second tan during the year make sure you have plenty of product on hand when do they call. Since they call only once a year for a splurge they are very likely to go ahead and splurge on a whole lot product during their visit.
Knowing your market is the key to growing your business as the sun shines bright. Treat each segment individually. Send your weekly tanners a personal note when you are scheduling them, birthday cards, and make sure you ask about their families and events in their lives each time you see them. Occasional tanners need a weekly email with some type of pertinent information in them. I send a blanket email to all occasional tanners with my schedule for the week and include any specials that I am running and that my tanning locations are running. I tan in a make-up studio and gym so if they have a special on eye shadow or kickboxing classes I include that information. My One-Timers get an email twice a month. I write a short note with my availability for the week and suggest new reasons to tan; Fourth of July, Perfect Poolside Legs, Ladies Night, Etc. . .
No matter the temperature there are always those who need a tan. Don’t lose touch with any of your clients and they will always have your information at their finger tips when they need you!

The babies are here!

Yeah! Golden Sol is proud to announce the arrival of TWO new future Spray Tanners!
Kendra Odum and Krista Bixlers (both owners in Golden Sol) have given birth to gorgeous baby girls.

So how is life in these growing families of business owners? Both say tired but absolutely never better.

Josie Lyn Bixler 6/15/10 8lb 12oz


Anna Brooke...10.3 lbs, 22 inches

Five Tips from a Traveling Sprayer

Five Tips from a Traveling Sprayer:
I travel from place to place for all my sprays. I may tan in up to three locations in any given day and have learned a lot from my first few days of spraying on how to make this job much easier so I thought I would share a few of my tips with you!
1. My number one favorite tip is USE BOTH GUNS! I used to spend so much time painstakingly switching from one cup to another to use my 10 and 12. I reasoned that I had my favorite one and it was adjusted perfectly so I left the other gun in the car and twisted those cups on and off in between every spray. I would just get my 12 going when I had to switch to 10 and so on and so on. Now I carry both guns everywhere I go. I have a 10 gun and a 12 gun and one cup of 8 floating around in my bag. This makes life so much easier when you have a line of people waiting to get tanned. You just switch the whole gun on and off the hose. This also makes it SO much easier to keep up with which cup has the 10 and which one has the 12.
2. CLEAN YOUR TENT! My clients never have any trouble letting me set up in their homes, on their carpet, or even small apartment spaces in Atlanta. I attribute this to the fact that I clean my equipment at least once a week. Every week, right before my first busy day I spray out my tent (don’t forget to wash the bottom, it gets dirty from folding it up into the bag), spray down my fan and fan bag, and, if necessary, put all my bags in the laundry. I also wipe down my electrical cords and re-organize my bag. Clean equipment goes a long way in making me comfortable every time I set up my tent and if I am comfortable so is the client.
3. SELL THOSE PACKAGES. I sell a lot of 4 tan packages. At first I was worried about how to keep up with them but now I just carry around a receipt book and write a receipt for the total price and then list four lines labeled Tan One, Tan Two, Etc. . . Then each time they come in and tan I initial and date next to Tan One and then Tan Two, Etc. . . You could even get them to initial beside your initials so that there is never any confusion about how many are left in the package.
4. BE A GIRL SCOUT. Always be prepared! Traveling to tan is like camping in the wilderness, if you didn’t bring it, you don’t have it. I keep a box in the trunk of my car with extras of things that I am constantly running out of; clean towels, baby wipes, pre-tan prep, a shop light for dark spaces, cups, etc. . . This way, in a pinch, I can always run to my car and have everything I need.
5. Carry Febreeze in your bag. Sometimes my tent smells more like tan than spa when I pop it up so I carry a bottle of febreeze in my bag and spray the sides, towel, and filter with it before the client comes in. This way they get a whiff of freshness right when they step inside!
Do you have a tip for us? Please share it with us. Leave a comment below or put it on FBook! We would love to hear from you!

Maximing your Client Base

Maximizing your Client Base

The biggest obstacle I found to getting started is this business is that almost everyone knows someone with a spray tan horror story; too orange, dark palms, horrible smell, etc. . .. How can you overcome such a negative expectation?
The key is create a positive expectation in your circle of influence. I choose a few key people in my facebook network that I knew were influential to many people. Then I chose a few locations to do sprays and set up times and days with them. Then I went to work. I sprayed those influential people for free at my home, they were friends after all, and I sprayed the owners and workers of my locations at no charge. . . and they LOVED it!
The entire time I sprayed I talked about the virtues of a person tanning you over a machine and how far superior Golden Sol products were to anything else on the market. I commented on their lack of orange color and how wonderful the smell was. I talked about the story of Golden Sol, how I got into the business and how excited I am about this product. I told them how this can save you from skin cancer and give you real options for tanning. Then I sent them on their way.
Within hours my facebook page was lit up with thank you for their beautiful tans. I didnt ask them to post it but I knew they were facebook devotees and they were grateful for the free tan so I suspected they would. With each post came questions from other friends and calls for appointments! The grateful staff at my locations were also talking. They loved their tan and wanted to help me since I had tanned them at no charge. Those places started booking too!
Now here is the important part. With each tan I booked from here on out I had the client fill out a release form with thier name, email, and phone number on it. Not only did this give me protection from personal liability but also great info on my client. Each day I email the tans from the day before and check on how they are doing. Clients love that you care! When they write back a great note about how much they love it I post it on Facebook! More questions, more bookings.
Once a week I email everyone that has not been tanned for two weeks. . . more bookings! Within one month I have one hundred clients and tan between 5 -19 people a week.
One note: Be careful of discounts. Before I had the plan I implemented above worked out I offered deep discounts in order to get people to try it. Those who paid those low prices did not value the service and were not raving fans like my higher paying clients, also now they do not want to pay the higher price, which is necessary to make the business viable, so I have lost them as clients. Free or full price really is the way to go.

Tips and Tricks for Spray Tanning

Alligator Skin from Spray Tanning??
If you are starting to notice a look of alligator skin on yourself or your clients, not to worry, this is normal! Let me explain why...
The main ingredient in every sunless tanning product is DHA, Dihydroxyacetone, which is simply a form of sugar. The way DHA works is by attaching itself to your outer most layer of skin and mixing with the proteins and amino acids within you to create a color change in those skin cells. Our skin is many layers deep and when we obtain a tan from the actual sun, it actually tans our skin several layers deep...which is the reason you can get 2nd and 3rd degree burns from the sun. The deeper it goes, the more layers it is effecting. DHA is much different than the sun in that it can't go any further than the very top layer of skin. DHA also tends to have a drying effect on the skin cells, almost causing them to shrink and dry out more quickly than they normally would. This is why it is so important to moisturize your skin every time you get out of the shower or bath. In the winter and spring, our skin hasn't been exposed to several months of warm weather and thus we have no color on our skin. When you spray tan, you are coloring the top layer, but everything underneath is still very pale. As the skin cells shrink from their normal drying pattern, you start to see the fresh layers of skin underneath...which are very light compared to your spray tanned skin. In the summer and fall, we still have a nice base tan from the sun and the layers underneath our top layer have some color. You will not typically notice the alligator look during the summer, just because the skin underneath is darker.


So...how do we fix this?? Our skin naturally regenerates every 7 to 10 days and when you've obtained a sun tan or a sunless tan; your skin may even dry out faster and shed more quickly. When you start to notice the alligator look, it is time to exfoliate and get that dead skin off. Even if you can't get all of it to come off, getting the majority will help your next sunless tan look more natural. This is a great time to sell your clients an exfoliate and some moisturizing lotion! I suggest using an exfoliate as well as a cotton washcloth. You can suggest to your clients to either take a long shower or bath and wait until the end of the shower or bath to exfoliate. This allows the skin to become very soft and the tanned skin will be removed more easily. I personally like to use a white washcloth so I can actually see what is being removed from my skin.


The most important thing your clients can do before they get spray tanned is exfoliate! Even if they don't want to use a product, just a simple cotton washcloth works. I would recommend this over a loofah, it just works better. By exfoliating first, their sunless tan will look more natural and will fade more naturally.

Changes. . .

The realization that I am not good with change...

I have always considered myself a flexible person. If something had to be done, then I just added it into my day and got it done! If something had to be fixed, then I added it into my day and fixed it. I know…I know…I'm a textbook Type-A personality. And because of this, the challenge of “the unexpected” just helps me to stay on track and make things happen. Well, when an opportunity presented itself for my family and me to move down to South Florida and expand the Golden Sol enterprise, I jumped on it!
The decision to move was the easy part! The actual move, however…well, that generated a whirlwind of feelings that I've never been accustomed too, an unfamiliar feeling of UNCERTAINTY. New and complex decisions had to be addressed - Where we were to live? Where will my daughter go to school? Which is the best moving vendor? When should we leave? Who will our new doctors and dentists be? And the big one - is this what I really want?
I grew up in Miami, so the idea of going back home after nearly eleven years of Atlanta living was exciting! At least, those were my thoughts when it was a dream and not reality. The shocking, almost earth-shattering reality was that I AM NOT GOOD WITH CHANGE!! I am far too structured and set in my ways to handle such an influx of unknown variables. A daily routine is something I value and need. As a mother, a wife, and business owner this consistency is intrinsic to who I am.

After a few weeks of packing all my earthly belongings and slowly disassociating myself from my true feelings, it was time for the big move. As I made the 10-hour drive from Atlanta to South Florida, my heart felt heavier and heavier. It finally hit me that my entire adult life had been established in Atlanta. After college I moved straight to the ATL. I found my love, got married, had a child, made lifelong friendships, started new careers, and then BAM...I left it all behind.
As I pulled into my new home, I realized that life as we had been living it would be totally altered. At that point I couldn’t determine if this would be for the worse or the better; I just knew it would be different. I felt run over, exhausted, and home sick. It was then I realized that change is not my strong suit. I am such a control freak that the unknown shuts me down. The first week was the hardest, as I experienced episodes of near-anxiety attacks that seemed to strangle me. But as the next couple of weeks rolled by, I was suddenly engulfed with a feeling of contentment. I realized that this change is probably the best decision I've made in a long time. It has nothing to do with the location, distance, or career...but everything to do with letting go of my controlled environment and trying something new on for size; allowing new ideas, clients, friends, environments, and adventures to set in. I will never lose the precious bonds I’ve established and grown with my Atlanta friends, but I'm opening myself for the adventures to come! So as difficult as the revelation was that change is NOT my strong point, it opened a new page in the book called Natasha's Life.