Since 2003 tanning salon memberships have grown almost 18% nationwide in the United States. It’s been reported that by 2010 the tanning business will be one of the most lucrative opportunities out there. People pay attention to their body image more now than ever before. And it’s growing.

So you want to get a piece of the golden tanning pie and get rich?

Here’s how:

1. First you need to find a location. Due to ease of entry and huge potential profits, tanning salons are everywhere now. The best idea is to open on the outskirts of town where the population is growing and people are moving to. Open up in the path of growing subdivisions and retail construction. The market won’t be saturated and you will be the first to open.

2. How big does the retail space need to be? The larger the better. You can fit about 6 beds comfortably in a 1,200 SF location. This is the minimum size you want. Keep in mind these are regular sized 15-20 minute beds.

3. Buy some beds. There are dozens of different brands on the market. I would start with Heartland Tanning Beds. They are well known for being quality and their customer service can’t be beat.

4. What kind? The 15-20 minute beds are going to be your workhorses. It’s what most people use. There’s also larger 9 and 8 minutes beds. You should have at least 1 “large” 8-9 minute bed in a small location. The rest should be the 15-20 minute type.

5. How are the beds controlled? Most modern beds these day can be controlled with a computer. Buy the software called Sun Touch Plus. It can operated the beds, track customer accounts, track hours, employee logs, operate the register, etc. It’s a great softwre program.

6. What about lotions and accessories? Those are going to be major money makers for you. The markup on them is normally 100%, but the distributors are not giving them away cheap. Your average lotion from the distributor can cost between $12-$25. That’s YOUR cost. Now you have to mark it up and sell it for as much as $50. But most people that buy a tanning package will also buy a lotion. CHA-CHING! Easy money.

7. What about permits? Some states such as Texas regulate the tanning business. Some state don’t regulate the tanning business. Check with you local office and see.

Also keep in mind opportunities such as “sunless tanning”. There’s a couple options available. Some are huge money makers, some are not. You may have heard of “Mystic Tan”. It’s just a metal booth you go in and sprays a fine mist. These Mystic booths can cost as much as $35K a piece, are a lot of work and results can be poor.

Here’s celebrity Sheryl Crow after getting a bad tan in a booth.

A better option is offer “airbrush” tanning or what they may call “HVLP”. It just a small machine that a person uses to spray the tan on to the body. The machine only cost about $2,000 for an HVLP. Airbrush even less. They both do the same thing, but the advantage to HVLP is it sprays more volume. This means you can do more in half the time. Airbrush results are just as good, it just takes longer. The advantage of these over the Mystic Tan is is the details. You can coat it on heavy where needed, and do fine areas around the face with much better results. Unlike Sheryl’s results. On top of that the machine is much cheaper and takes up less space.

So get out there and build your tanning empire!