You are really interested in spray tanning and tanning in general and would like to make a career or business out of it. So you think “what are my options’, well you can approach it in two different ways. First is starting a tanning salon business on your own and with careful considerations and a good business plan and of course money you might very well succeed. Your other other option is to open up one of the several tanning franchises that are available. What’s great about a franchise is that training is usually provided with the franchise fee. You will have the support that you need to get the business up and running.
A franchise is good because usually there is a marketing plan that is already in place, and you as the business owner would simply have to pay the commission on your sales or set amount of money on a monthly or yearly basis. Customers are also more confident in franchise tanning salons unlike a salon that just opened up in their neighborhood. Professionalism is usually associated in franchises and clients take comfort in that. The cons or negatives in opening a franchise are the costs and the residual commission that you will have to continue paying. Start up fees can be quite considerable from as low as $25,000 to as high as $500,000.
You and only you will have to determine what you can afford and what your business plan calls. You will have to do a lot of research including location. This is probably the most important thing as well as being in an area that you are certain that people are interested in getting a tan. This kind of research will take a long time unless you are already familiar with the market. A good start is to actually work in a tanning salon before even applying for a franchise. The experience will be very rewarding and you will be able to judge how a business operates firsthand.
Statistically more and more people in the United States are getting artificial spray tans and other kinds of tans. This means that there is a market for tanning salons. This is however not true for all cities, towns and neighborhoods. You might live in an area where people are simply not interested in tanning because they simply have more important things in their lives to deal with. You might however live in upper middle income neighborhood where booth singles and married people are interested in keeping a tan appearance. You will have to find this out for yourself, a tanning salon franchise will advise you but ultimately it is your money that is being invested. And you are the major investor will have to do your due diligence or your business may very will end in bankruptcy before the year is is through.
As far as what is available in terms of franchises well there are Hollywood Tans, iBeach, Zoo Health Club, South Beach Tanning, Tan World and others franchise tanning options. You should research and study each and every franchise including the number of employees that are required, the equipment used and the type of services used. If you prior experience in running a business then that will be greatly beneficial, if not you may want to take a course in two in management. Whatever you decide one thing is certain a tanning salon franchise can be either profitable or it can end up losing money. This is more or less how how all franchises are so do your due diligence and then take out your checkbook. If you have to ask the question how to start a tanning salon you it’s safe to say that you should first know as much as you can about the business of tanning before committing to any kind of investment.