How did you get started?
I love getting spray tanned myself; and, the lady that spray tanned me moved to New York. When I tried to find someone else, that’s when I realized there is a market for this service and I could do it mobile to keep overhead costs down, and still keep my full time job.
How long have you been doing this?
I formed the Tantalizing Spray Tans, LLC in March of 2011.
How do you make money (Hourly, By Project, Retainer or One Time Fee)?
I get paid per spray tan or per spray tan package. Spray tan parties are best since you can spray 5 or 6 people in one trip and the hostess gets her spray tan free for throwing the party. In 2012, I’m going to offer packages through EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) to increase my revenue. I learned about this (and so much more) at a Sun Academy Trade show I attended this month.
How do you get new clients?
This is the fun part for me. I’ve donated spray tans to fund raisers, the biggest one was Tampa Bay’s Dancing With the Stars. I ran a full page ad, joined the volunteer committee, and donated spray tans to the dancers. By doing this, I’ve met so many wonderful people; I even met the former Mayor of Tampa and his wife and had tea with them on their beautiful balcony. That was priceless! And some of those dancers are regular clients now.
Also, one of the local UV tanning salons refers people to me who request spray tans since they don’t offer them. I’ve also joined a few local organizations to get my name out there and meet people.
When do you work on your side hustle?
I never work on it at my day job. Lord knows they keep me busy enough and I wouldn’t want someone to do that to me. But I’ve burnt the midnight oil putting my website and marketing material together. It works out really great because I do most of my spray tans in the evening and clients sleep with the solution on and shower it off in the morning. Although I have a few clients that prefer early morning appointments.
And I attend luncheons and dinners with the Associations I belong to, where we get our 30 seconds of fame. We stand up and give our elevator speeches. I have met so many wonderful, motivational people through these organizations. And most of these organizations have a speaker who educates us about something to help us take our business to the next level.
Do you have tips or resources for a person who just started a side hustle or wants to start one?
Give back to your community! Don’t wait until you see a profit to volunteer. You get so much more out of volunteering than you give. One thing I realized when I started this business is now I have the opportunity to really give back to my community. I was asked to speak at a Wellness for Warriors fundraiser, and I did. That was the first time I ever spoke about my oldest brother, who is a Vietnam Vet. I got to speak to a lot of young Soldiers and Marines about PTSD and how it affects families. Then I got involved with the Tampa Bay Dancing With the Stars fundraiser. We raised $150,000 to split between 3 local charities. It was an amazing event, and I was proud to be a part of it and I even got a few new regular clients from it.
And don’t forget about raffles. Donate your services to fundraisers that do raffles. If a worthy charity can raffle off my services and make some money for a good cause, I don’t mind offering my services to the person that purchased it. Again, you will meet really good people this way and you’ll be supporting your community. The stronger your community is, the stronger your business will be.
Of course, you will have days that you’re exhausted and you will ask yourself, what was I thinking? Why did I do this? So you take a break, and then keep going and moving forward, finding things to inspire and motivate you. And get involved with Associations and attend Trade Shows for your industry. We should always be striving to learn more about our industry.
And finally, whatever you think your startup costs are going to be, add a couple thousand dollars to that number. I have to laugh when I say that, but it’s so true, at least in my case it was. I really underestimated what it costs to start up a business. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s not just the cost of licenses, insurance, products and equipment that you’ll need to get started. But the mistakes you make along the way, look at them as positive stepping stones that you learn from, and just keep moving forward. I’ve heard time and time again, focus on what you do best, and hire people to do the rest. I’m probably going to take that advice for myself in 2012.
Where can we go to connect with you?
You can visit my website.
If you want to learn step-by-step how to get your own Side Hustle going my eBook Start a Side Hustle With Skills You Already Have breaks it down for you, making it simple to get started on your own Side Hustle today.
Andrea is the Chief Chick of Smart Money Chicks. After filing BK twice (once because she panicked, second time because the pro messed the first time up), she realized that it all could have been avoided if she understood more about how her Finances worked and the options available. At that point, she wanted to help as many as she could never make the same mistakes again. Our Promise is that all the content you read on here is created or edited by Andrea