It's now June, and Prom season in full swing. I was fortunate to get a location at Stretch Fitness in Summerside so I could do tans for people in the Summerside area. I live far out of town and the travel charges are often more than someone wishes to pay so getting a location in town was essentail. I take my own bookings, look after my own money, and pay them a little for each tan I do as "rent". It has been working out very well. I am only there when I have bookings. I was able to do many TOSH and KISH prom tans. Now, proms for Bluefield, Charlottetown Rural, and Colonel Gray Schools are coming up and it was time to find a spot in Charlottetown where I could have a similar setup. So, I called a former employer at Laser Esthetics Medi-Spa in Charlottetown and she was so enthusiastic! I am setting up for 2 evenings one week apart so I can do prom tans for those schools in Charlottetown. As for future arrangements, we are just going to see how this goes; I have to do this after their normal working hours as I work during the day. I am hopeful it will work out, as having a location in Charlottetown will open this business up to a huge group of people! There are spray tans available at approximately 4 locations in the area already, but I think if I can continue to build a good reputation I will do well there.
I am really enjoying the new solutions from Natural Glow. Although Vani-T was very nice, especailly "Fusion", colour choices were limited, and it was unreal expensive especially when shipping and customs were factored in. I will continue to use Aviva for now, as it works really well on cooler skin types, but it is my only solution which is not organic. Natural Glow comes in 6 shades plus mixing directions for many more shades so I can truly build a custom colour. It also seems to last just as long as the other ones I've tried, no smell, dries quickly, and it's organic. It's only drawback is its shelf life is only 12 months from shipping date, but I do not think I will have any problems using my current order up by then.
Also an update which is kind of exciting: my goal for the end of 2012 as a very small home-based business was to bring in enough income to pay for my original investment from last fall. As of June 12, that will have taken place so yay! I only started charging people in January (needed free ones for practise), broke my leg in February and was laid up for about 3 months; so all in all I've done fairly well. Some people have asked me if I was quitting my job as a nurse to do this full-time; No! This will continue to be a small home-based business operated solely by me. Eventually, in a few years I may give the business to my daughter, but that is a very long way off as she is currently eight years old. This business is for fun money, and money to pay for things that normally would not be in the budget for my family. The goal is still to provide quality spray tans, and make some cash along the way. This business is just for ME, something productive I can do that I enjoy. So far, so good. I just renewed my URL www.smartspraytan.com for 5 more years as it has been the single most effective means of getting clients. I have also recently purchased the .ca of that name as well in case people search me incorrectly.
So far it is fun, and now becoming more profitable!

I got my machine from a website in Australia where they seem to have this spray
tanning thing down pat. I know I proabably paid more than I needed to, BUT I am
very happy with my machine, and it fit into my budget. It sprays quickly,
quietly, accurately, and with hardly any overspray (I only use about 1 ounce per
client). And now, I have started playing with the dials on the gun so I can
start practising airbrush muscle definition, which could come in handy
eventually.
Anyway. I broke the machine the first day using it,
when I was trying it out on myself. It vibrated itself right off the counter and
on to the floor. I did not get any instruction manual at the time, and didn't
know this would happen. The good news was all I broke was the attachment to the hose, so
a new hose was all I needed, and I got one pretty quick for free from the
seller. Rule #1, put the compressor on the floor. check.
So
then it was time to practise. On myself, It is hard to practise on yourself,
especially your legs and back. I even hard a hard time doing my right arm
because I had to use my left hand to do so. So, in the beginning, my experiments
had me wearing long-sleeved shirts as my right wrist was always overdone.
Rule#2, pull away before you get to the wrist, and a little barrier cream can go
a long way
Soon I was ready for others to practise on. I did a
lot of reading and video watching, and communicating with other salon owners. I
put the word out to my friends that till December the tans were free. I had a
party with my friends, and gave everyone a spray tan. After about 10, I felt
pretty confident and the feedback I was getting was very positive. I was also
getting used to the different shades and characteristics of each solution... was
trying out 4 different brands at the time. I've discovered that you get what you
pay for here as well. The cheapest solution, although it was organic and deemed
"premium" just did not last as long as the others, but the color was good on me.
So, I continue to use it only on myself. The expensive ones rock. And yes, they
cost me more, but I am interested in quality spray tans. People on PEI are quite
convinced a spray tan means ORANGE. I'm trying to change that one tan at a time.

I started Smart Spray Tan in September 2011, did free practise tans on friends and family til December, and now I'm happily doing spray tans as a part-time home-based business. I'm a nurse by trade, the Clinical Leader ("head nurse") of Maternal Child Care Unit at Prince County Hospital in Summerside. I love my job. And, I never ever considered starting a business from the ground up, but here I am. I got the idea from a few things that had happened in quick succession. A friend had shown her newly acquired spray tan on Facebook that she had paid for on preparation for a wedding she was in. Normally, she is pale, but the spray tan was quite dark yet natural-looking. Then, another friend had been saying that her visitor from Australia could not readily find a place to re-spray her tan while she was on vacation on PEI. Apparently, spray tans are quite popular in Australia, as well as elsewhere in the world. Then, I saw an episode of "Dragon's Den" which featured a Toronto woman trying to get investments in her successful mobile spray tanning business. That was the part really did it for me, I started doing some research. For several weeks I researched all I could find out about airbrush tanning. I contacted the woman from the Dragon's Den to inquire about franchise opportunities ($10,000 -- yikes no thanks). I got a spray tan from a local spa -- did not like that she used one shade on everyone --dark--, it was ok, but decidedly orange on parts and uneven. I knew I could do better. I considered a spray booth, but they are megabucks, plus fixing it would be a nightmare I would suspect. So, I googled business plans and started writing one. The more I knew the more interested I became.
I once said to my husband during all this intense study ,"If you think this is crazy or stupid you need to tell me because I am going ahead with this if you don't." He was very supportive and still is. I registered my business name in September after much thought. Some other names?   iTan (taken), uTan (taken), TanGo (taken) and finally Smart Spray Tan. I had learned to come up with a name that says exactly what your product is so it is not mistaken as something else and people can google you easier. I also like Smart because of Smart Car, Smart Phone, etc. and I wanted my customers to feel "Smart" about the choice they had made. I felt pretty smart coming up with that actually! Once I had confirmation that no one in Canada had a similar business name, I registered my name with CRA. Next I started my website and purchased the URL www.smartspraytan.com . And then I was officially a business. It would be quite some time before I was ready to make money.
The fun was soon to begin!