If you’re looking to incorporate a love of spray tanning and an entrepreneurial spirit, a spray tanning business is a dream business for you! You've taken it into consideration whether to do this for a living, or as a part time job, but you’ve had a hard time figuring out where to start. If that's the case then look no further!

After coming up with a catchy mobile spray tan business name, do some research to get a realistic picture of the profits you can make. You will also have to take into consideration the costs of equipment, spray tan solutions, and other supplies.

Getting out there and starting your own business is something a lot of us dream about. A mobile or salon-based spray tanning business can be an extremely rewarding and profitable, but your success in this industry will mostly depend on you and your hard work.

Get Accredited Training

Find the most suitable spray tanning training program for you. Things you will want to learn about:

• skin preparation
• details about ingredients
• techniques of solution application
• safety
• customer care

Learning about all these aspects of the business will help to speed up the learning curve and ensure that you deliver high-quality service, our training is based online or in person 1:1 we don’t believe in going on a half day course with 6-12 other students and spray tanning 1 person, this does not give you the tools and the expertise to stand out from the crowd, people think spray tanning is easy which it is, but you need to know how to spray tan hands and feet perfectly not just a circle over the top. www.spraytantraining.co.uk

Why choose Black Magic Tan? 

We have been helping people start their tanning business since 2006, and still work with spray tanners who have enjoyed years of spray tanning success. Our products are all made right in Sydney Australia and we can boost to having something for everyone. Equipment is what else we get right, we have manufactured our own equipment, and sourced other items that we are very confident will ensure your success.

How Much will I Spend?

There are costs of doing business such as registering your business, proper licensing, liability insurance that you incur initially or annually. To get started tanning, you will need spray tan solution, a tanning machine and a tanning tent. Let's say, you can get a bottle of spray tan solution for £55 and you can get 15 -20 tans per bottle. A tan machine will cost you around £299, plus you will also need a tent (roughly £80). Please don’t go with the cheapest solution that’s £25 a litre, it is this price for a reason, it will last 2/3 days, your clients want a good 7-10 days. Cheap machines are the same your relying on this machine to take you from customer to customer imagine if you have 10 booked in and it gets over heated and breaks down after 5.

How Much Will I Make?

The average cost of a spray tan is around £20. This means you have plenty of room for making your tan affordable and making sure to be profitable and popular among clients. At the beginning, you might want to keep your prices lower to stay competitive. Offer special programs or first-time memberships. But also let your clients know that prices will rise after a while. You will also have to keep track of other expenses, such as rent or petrol costs, car maintenance, and stock supplies.

Pricing

The hardest thing about entering any service offering business is setting your price list. If you're new to the sunless tanning business, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration while forming one. Although there’s no strict rule when it comes to determining how much you should charge for your sunless spray tanning services, you can combine various factors that will help you structure your price list correctly.  You are an expert and you should be charging so that you make a profit, there is no point going out doing a spray tan for £10 when in fact with product and fuel it comes to £8-10.

Rely on your competition

Do market research. Research other spray tanning services around your place - how much do they charge? Find out what’s the lowest and the highest cost of service, since you’ll want to position your services between those two. By doing this, you’ll have a competitive price point that will give your newly started business a good push. Although it may seem that a lower price means more customers, at the same time it threatens your business’ image and it could even discredit your services.

Where’s your business located?

Location is a major factor when determining how to price your services. Are you based in an urban, suburban or rural community? What is the demand for spray tan services in your area? Cities mean more people, which means more potential customers and the potential to demand a higher price for your services. If you own mobile spray tanning service, you should always count distance, travel time, and fuel cost into the price.

Analyse the clientele

Do you only seek high-end customers, or are you open to a diverse type of clientele? How much can you realistically charge them? When determining price, you can add a premium if you offer your clients something they can’t get elsewhere, for example add-on tanning products or a luxury tanning experience. Identify a way to differentiate yourself from the competition, and your business will attract more customers.

Profit and a Sustainable Business

Although it’s essential for a spray tan business owner to have a passion for helping people look their best, you must make a profit in order to stay in business, below is a table for doing just 12 tans a week mobile, obviously salon costa re more but you can obviously do more tans without the travel.

Total profit = 1090.00 from 12 tans a week 2 a day over 6 days

Choose Your Equipment

If you are just starting out, you need to figure out what type and scale of equipment your business will be requiring. 

This depends on the following factors:

• Type of your clientele
• Size of your clientele
• Type of your spray tanning business (are you opening a salon or going mobile?)

This is crucial for all beginners as you don’t want to spend a lot of money on equipment you don’t really need. Once you’ve made your decision, it is time to:

Purchase Your Equipment

The tools and material you need to consider include:

• Spray tan kits
• Spray tan machines
• Spray tan guns
• Spray tan screens and tents
• Spray tan extraction booths and fans
• Disposable products (hair nets, latex gloves, sticky feet, face masks)
• Tanning solution and lotions

Experiment and practice.

Promote Your Business Properly

Once you are all set, it is time for advertising. The word needs some spreading in the beginning, *so go ahead and advertise your spray tanning business via:

• local online directories
• local newspapers
• bulletin boards
• social media platforms
• your own website.

Remember: the crucial step towards creating a success spray tanning business is building up faithful clientele.