Consistency Wins for Small Business Growth with Marla Sacchetta | Episode 139

It's all in the practice and your style because when you first do spray I used to spray tan my daughter. She was in kindergarten and I used to say, Wow, get in the tent and let me try.

Right, right, right.

I mean her legs. Oh boy. She would go to school. I'm the teacher. What's going on? Everybody's coming all tan. Lana, it's like December. Yeah. Said, Lana, Lana said that you were spray tanning. I said, yeah. She's like, Mom, I told her you were practicing. I said, oh, oh, okay. I mean, she looked hideous.

Yeah, yeah.

But again, I was too much. Learning your crap. But I I was, but I would use my daughter.

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Reach out to John Sachs and his team at Property Management Redefine. We'll take good care of you. Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Bricks and Risk. I'm Tim Garrety. And I'm Sean Mooney. Today, Sean, we have a business-owning superstar out of Delco. We have Marla Saketa, owner, spray tan artist for And So It Glows. How are you doing today, Marla?

Great. I didn't bring this up. I I have a little uh wild card here.

Okay.

Are you ready? I'm ready.

So I didn't uh I didn't know who our guest was today until the other day. And I knew it was Marla from the spray tan place, right? Yes. Okay. And then I think it was just the other day, uh, I saw it was Marla Sicetta. There's an outside chance here that you may have a relative. Okay. Jim Saketa.

Yes.

No way.

I knew it.

I knew it.

I knew it. Alright, we'll save that for discussion. Can I read the bio now? Let's get into the bio. Alright, cool. So, as a single mom of three kids, finding the right work-life balance was important to Marla. When she left her professional career in 2009, she knew at some point that she wanted to start her own company. With a nursing background and a passion for health and wellness, it was Marla's goal to choose an industry that's beneficial for the greater good. She became a trained spray tan artist in 2013 and in 2016, and So It Glows was born. Awesome name, by the way. Thank you. I really love it. Thank you. Marla prides her company in only working with the highest quality products and staying fiercely educated on the newest trends and technologies. This allows her clients to get a fantastic tan while still protecting their skin. Marla hails from Delco, Pennsylvania, and went to Newman University. Go nights.

Really?

So what made you become a spray tan artist 13 years ago?

It's a very interesting story. So 13 years ago, a friend of mine went to get a spray tan at a salon. Took her two-year-old then son. Gets to the appointment, was excited getting the spray tan for the wedding, and gets there, and the son is not allowed on the spa floor. Can't get the spray tan. She comes home. I go over there with my children. She's furious, frustrated. I was like, it's a spray tan. What's the big deal? I said there's got to be a better way to do this. So I just start Googling. And all these things are coming up: a tent, a machine. I said, hey, we could probably do this. What do you mean? And I said, let me put some numbers behind it. So I did. And I said, the investment in this is this. What we can make is this. Let's go to Boston and get trained. So that's how it started.

Wow. All right. So here's a follow-up to that. Why did you want to put numbers behind it? Are you a numbers person? Were you looking for an opportunity? Like what even like makes that happen?

So I'm this I was a stay-at-home mom at the time. And I needed something to give me a good work-life balance. I needed to get out of the house a little bit. Life changes. And how am I going to do that? So I didn't want to invest in something that was going to break the bank. And this is very reasonable. And to make money on it, it probably took us less than a month.

To be profitable.

To be profitable.

Yes. Awesome.

So it was a friend. Friend gets tries to get a spray tan, couldn't do it. First of all, how'd that go down that day? Did like, did you help her with like some DIY bronzer or something like that?

I watched her child.

Yeah, so the kid came gotcha.

You know, it's you were saying, as you're saying that, I'm literally picturing when you have these little kids that are like want to do whatever they want to do.

Sure, of course.

And you can't, you know, and then like how do you jockey that? Right. And it's almost that that was the the lightning bolt. Like, thank God that happened. Sure. Right? Because that created this.

Exactly.

And I think that's a a lot of businesses start with that. I mean, we listened to that podcast, Guy Ross. Oh, yeah. And a lot of it is there's gotta be a better way.

Yes.

And a lot of great businesses start that way in terms of you know, it's it's just a better mousetrap. Sure. Right? And I think that that's you know if you're having that issue, then there's chances are a lot of other people are having that same issue. Exactly, exactly.

And then you feel the need. Right.

All right, so you start crunching numbers. Yes. You're like, let's go to Beantown, let's go get trained. And did they welcome girls from Dairo? They're like, Where's where's that?

I'm not that tough, am I? Uh so it was the company that we decided to use. Yeah. Yes. So we decided to use their solution to start off. And then they offer these training courses. So we went to the training course, and with that, you get a discount on the product. Um they gave you a better spray gun.

It's your entry, entry way into doing this new business that you have no idea what to do.

Yes, and there was no we weren't married to the company. Yeah. So we did the course. Yeah. If we didn't like the product moving forward, we could move on.

Yeah.

And so it was a win-win.

It was Are you uh are you the researching type? How'd you even find this company? Did you look up like five companies? Did you see one? You're like, ooh, they look cool, kind of close by.

No, I am not a numbers person. I am not a researcher.

Okay. You're a gut person?

I am. I have. When you then they were probably the newest and the most uh advanced company, spray tan solution company on the market. Since then, a lot has changed, and a lot of companies have launched product that are comparable. Okay. I won't say better.

Yeah.

So you go up, you do the training, and then you said within like a month, you're basically making your investment back. Yes. So this is a high margin business. Yes. Was that part of the attraction? Knowing it's like, one, gets me out of the house, gonna go with my gut, got a friend I can do this with, so we're gonna kinda kind of like journey together, just like Sean and I with with the podcasts. Like, you know, if I'm sitting there talking to camera or just him, it's probably not gonna be even like remotely fun. We wanted to do it together because one, we have, you know, kind of like a similar sense of humor, right? Uh, business journeys, and then grew up in the same place. But uh, yeah, so like talk about like making your money back right away, like what that felt like. What did that teach you about getting into this business?

And also, too, there has to be a lifestyle component to it, right? You make your own schedule. This particular business allowed you to probably do a lot of things that a W-2 wouldn't, or some other businesses, you know, if you had a retail shop, you'd have to be. So that is that part of it?

So, yeah. So one of the reasons why we decided to be a mobile spray tan company is because a brick and mortar, you need to fill those gaps with something else. And coming from, you said, I have a nursing degree. I can't wetten your teeth, I can't give you a facial, I can't cut your hair. Botox, injections. I can because I'm a nurse.

Oh, so now you know where you get your next injection.

I don't want a lawsuit. If I mess up someone's face, I don't want to be sued. So I stay away from that. Uh, but to your point, the mobility of the spray tan, one, it's attractive to clients because people are in the same boat that I was in and that my friend was in at the time. They have kids, they can't get to the appointment. So we come in, we set the tent up in your home, and we spray you. 15 minutes later, you're going back to your business. It's awesome. So, yeah, so that was one of the things we thought of and the price point. So when we started out, I mean, we were at $25 a spray tan.

And you're still crushing it. That's awesome. I mean, that's cool. That well, that speaks to the to the margin in this business. There's some industries that have very high margins, and there's some that have real residential real estate has a very low margin if you're running a brokerage. Sure. Sure.

So, yes. So that was attractive to people as well.

Okay.

However, that got us into a little bit of a bind because that was the expectation.

Yeah.

So when you start to increase your prices, it becomes what do you mean you're $35? What do you mean you're $45? What do you mean? Because I just traveled 20 miles to spray you.

Yeah. So cost of gas, the cost of equipment, you know, all those things are going to go up over time. So I think what that may lead you to in in a lot of business is unfortunately is because you graduate through, right? There's chapters with business. You're you start and you'll do anyone. You oh, you want to go to uh you're an hour away, no problem.

No problem. It's very charging.

Dover, Delaware, and charge me a 25. Oh, oh, I gotta charge you $15 for travel, right? Sure. You would never do that now. No. Right. So I think that that is a lesson with business, is that you're gonna graduate through, and what's gonna happen is you're going to lose clients. Yes. Because people have an expectation that it was 25. Yes. Now you're sticking it to me, now it's 35 40. Forget it. I'm done, right? Sure. But out of that is you're going to have the loyal followers that understand the business, have a relationship with you, sure, and and are happy to pay $45, $50. Yes. So I think that's just a business lesson as you kind of move through being a business owner, what you find is you're always gonna shed, right? You're you're always gonna have clients that are with you or without you. It's just what business is. But those loyal ones that are loyal through those different chapters, they're like lifetime clients.

They are. And to your point, to circle back to your question, that was the my most favorite piece because I have clients today who are my friends. Exactly. So we hang out, they call me for advice, we go through kids stuff together. Yeah. I mean, just from simply coming to your home, yeah, being in a vulnerable state, because you are with the spray tan.

Yep.

And I enjoyed making them feel comfortable and creating this relationship. That's my favorite part of the job.

That's awesome. All right. So so you were in corporate America. I was. You had a pretty high profile role. You were a director of sales for a company.

Yes.

Why leave your professional career to get into being an entrepreneur? W did you kind of like ease into it? You were doing both at the same time, or was it cold plunge like right into like owning a spray tan business?

No. So I retired from my professional career in 2009 when I had my daughter.

Okay.

And so at that point I decided to be a stay-at-home mom.

Okay.

And then when my youngest was born in 2013, it was time to change.

Yeah. Yes. Awesome.

So yes. I don't think I ever s aspired to be a spray tan artist or an ex-right. I didn't go to bed one night and say, ooh, that's my next step.

Is uh well here's a question because I don't know this. Uh is the friend still doing it too, or is it just you?

I don't know if she's still us.

Gotcha. Yes. Okay.

So we were in partnership for about a year, and she had a vision for how she wanted to take the business, and I had a vision for where I wanted to take the business. So we decided to mutually split. And here I am.

Okay. Let's talk about Delco.

Let's talk about it.

Because we got these greatest place on earth. Got these local Delco candles. Noah, turn up the volume.

Talking Delco. I I'm gonna break the mixer. I I love this county.

Do you know what's interesting about Delco?

These phone lines are melting down.

Okay. If you're not from Greater Philadelphia, you really have no idea what I'm talking about. But Delco stands for Delaware County. And what I find so interesting about Delco, so I'm from Greater Philadelphia my whole life, half my life in the suburbs, half my life in the city. There was no Mont Co lifestyle. Because we both grew up in Montgomery County. But yet Delco has this vibe of authenticity. It was more just what parish. It's true.

Yeah, what parish.

Now people, there's so many Delco products. This has like a three as the E and a flame for like there's so much tied to Delco. Yes. It's like an identity, it's a vibe. It is. What why you're from there? Why is it like that?

You know, I for well, let let's let's be clear. Delco, there's a very distinct uh uh Delco uh let's say just where you're from. Okay, so people will say to me all the time, oh my gosh, you're from Delco. Where did you grow up? And they'll say, Newtown Square. That's not Delco. That's Upper Delco. Or Delco Light, as I call it. So that's awesome. Delco Light. Delco Light. There's a lot of Delco Light. I'm from Collingdale. Yeah. So I'm very close to Chester.

Yep.

So uh yes. For me, I still have my grade school friends. We've been friends for 50 years.

Yeah.

And to go back home, my parents still live in the house that I grew up in. That's awesome. And I just get that feeling, a lot has changed. But driving down the street and pulling up to my house and walking in that front door, the neighbors who are still alive come out. I if I go to church there, I see everyone shaking 20 hands, hugging 20 people. I mean, it's just the way it is. And I feel like wherever you go, if you go to Sea Isle, my kids and I were in Putincana. We meet people from Delco. Oh man. So, and they know as soon as I open my mouth.

Yes.

Because I don't have an accent.

I uh right. I wonder this is a very intriguing too. Moody's accent is way more intense than mine. I um I would love, so you just boxed out Newtown Square.

Yes.

Nothing against that Newtown Square.

No, no, no. No, a lot of my clients are in Newtown Square.

Yes. Um I would love to like get the map of Marla's Delco to see what that would like to do put it on the table and like start drawing like Sharon Hill.

Okay.

Folcroft.

Yep.

Alden.

Yep. Aston?

No.

That's Wichester County.

No, that's Delaware County. Too fancy.

It's too too fancy, man.

Even though I went to the country.

They don't shower after work, they shower before work.

Okay?

When you're from Delltown, you take what you can get. Right, right, right, right.

Yeah.

I mean, I can shower after work.

The host.

I'll take the host. Yeah.

We got one of those outside showers.

It's it's kind of brutal in November.

But is it like so people say, like, oh, I live on the main line, and I'm like, well, like, what's the main line? Because you have like I mean people in Barrel Kinwood say they're in the main line. And I'm like, where does this go to Jip? You know? Right, right.

It kind of does. And I think the main line, I don't I don't even know how to answer that question because apparently I live on the main line, but I don't. Right. I live in Malvern, but I live not in Malvern proper. But when you say Malvern, it's kind of like, oh. And that's not how it is.

Well, part of it, too, the history of it, is because of the train line. So the main line.

That's that's right.

The main line has to do with where the train stations are located. So if you got if you have a train station located on that train line, then technically you are mainline.

Well, that's true because we didn't have a train. We had a trolley. Exactly. That's how I get to the train.

Oh. That is the case. It took you to the train or to the city.

Maybe this is how I got to school.

That's awesome.

I well, I walked to grade school.

Was it hard for you leaving? Like, so I grew up in Glanside and we have many conversations and shows about Glenside. Everybody knows my love and affection for Glenside.

Yes. I need to get an Abington sweatshirt just to just to show you all. Take it up. Yeah, yeah. You should do that. Get them all, get them on there.

Um it'll be like in really nice writing. Be like that script. You probably have to go to the Abington pharmacy to go get the sweatshirt. True. Shout out to the Abington Farm. Shout out to Abington Pharmacy. Um, like, were you itching to get out at some point, or were you like, oh, I would really love to live in around this area. Yeah.

Okay.

Be true. Yeah, let's just go. Yeah. Oh, right. So I went to Newman.

I love it. I'm really putting her at the crosshairs here. I don't mean to do that.

It's okay. I can I can handle it.

All right.

So going to Newman.

Yeah.

When I went there, there were no dorms. So I lived at home with my parents. Uh huh. And I lived at home with my parents until I was 25 years old. Yeah. Which is a long time. My sister was off of college.

That is a long time.

So I'm at home as an adult, working my first time.

It's a very long time by our standards growing up. Maybe not so much of a long time today because no one can afford anything.

Exactly. And everyone's stays home till they're forty five.

Exactly.

So the saving grace was when I my first job I got out of college was in pharma research. And I traveled all over. So that was my first entry into oh what else is out there? Yes, other than the Jersey Shore.

Right, right, right.

So I my parents were great. We traveled when we could, where we could, but we weren't going to Europe or anything like that. Yeah. So I got to see the other side of life, so to speak, traveling. Worked with a girl and she said, I'm looking for a roommate. And I said, Really where? Westchester.

Ooh. Where's that?

Like do they have sushi there? If it's past the Grand At Ron Mall, I have no idea what you're talking about. So I ended up moving in with her. And then a year later the opportunity came up to buy my townhouse to which I still live now 26 years later. It's awesome. And there was nothing out there. Nothing. And it was a little bit of culture shock because I'm used to getting in the car or walking everywhere.

Everything's five, ten minutes away.

Everything. And now everything's 15. Which is a huge difference. It it really is. It it really is.

This actually like not to dive too deep into this, this happened to me when so when I grew up in Admington, I moved to Philadelphia for LaSalle University, Go Explorers. And um that was my first like true taste of the city. And one thing I personally really loved about the city was the convenience and the diversity and the different kinds of food and like all this different stuff that I just didn't have access to growing up.

Exactly.

And then I stayed in the city for 24 years.

Okay.

Okay. Maria lived in the city for a while too. She was probably there like 15 years. And um when I moved out five years ago to Flowertown, that was one of my biggest gripes was like everything is 15 minutes away and nothing can be reached by foot.

No.

Like I mean technically I could I could die walking to McGurk's for a couple pints.

Maybe a maybe a we don't want that time a couple glasses of the colour don't they have a trolley up the s uh side of your street that takes you down to McGurk's wish they did. I'd freaking take it every day.

But yeah it's interesting like the culture shock of like growing up in an area you grew up with the convenience then you moved away from it. Yes. And then it just it takes it takes a while to figure out I don't want to press you on this but I do have a follow-up question.

Press her of course you didn't really answer the question. You answered like where you moved to but you didn't get into the the psychology of like that decision like you could have you know you could have moved home.

No and and to me this is what's going to get me in trouble I did not want to move to Springfield. Yeah. So Springfield to me was not moving out or moving up.

It's moving back home.

It's moving back home and the Westchester I was on Route 3.

Let's call it a lateral move. It was it it Springfield's a lateral move. That's what people did.

Yes that's what people did. If you wanted a single family home you went from my twin home and then you went to Springfield or that's the town you aspire to be in the area you know it's close to the family everything. Exactly.

In Glenside you grow up in Glenside and then you buy in Glenside.

It's a little different Yeah but mostly in Delaware that's what happens too I mean most of my friends still live there.

Yeah.

So I just decided I'm gonna break out a little bit yeah I get made fun of don't you worry do they do they say you're not from Del Co? Do they do because my friends from Glenside are like dude you don't even live in Glens no no no no because no one's gonna recognize me on this today because this is not what I look like in regular life.

I usually look homeless and so great. I look homeless I'm either in my Inso Glow's gear or I have a Delco shirt on.

Love it wish she brought SoGlow shirts that just goes to show you can take the girl out of Delco but you can never take the Delco out of the girl.

It's very very true.

All right so let's dive into a few other things like with your business so one thing you're into with your business is the education part. Yes I saw that all over your website when you and I were BSing about this at a barbecue you were telling me all about it so I can tell like you're into it. So there's like there's the perception of like what a spray tan is and there's the reality of what a spray tan is. Yes. So let's talk a little bit about why you're into education and why it's important for clients or anyone who's into spray tanning be educated on it.

So this is very it's a very difficult subject because like I was telling Sean before you got here everyone's an expert in the spray tan world and with social media now you have influencers you have TikTokers you have uh information YouTube you could chat GPT anything. However there's a science it's very technical on how your body gets actually tanned and that's the misconception. Okay. Everyone thinks I just want to be just make me dark. It doesn't work that way. The bronzer inside the solution will make you appear a different color because we need instant gratification. So everyone needs to look like they have their spray tan immediately two I need to see what I'm doing. So I have to have a visual and and three again that's not how it works.

Is this why there's so many orange people rolling around so the orange that's a that's another topic.

Okay so here's how you become orange okay I'm actually enjoying the technical piece of this conversation well because that's the other thing that people orange and and people are very nervous to get their spray tans because that's what they think the results going to be.

Yeah they think it's gonna look artificial.

Exact exactly could you tell I have a spray tan?

No no I do I just thought you were like in Wildwood the last two weeks right yeah North Wildwood or Wildwood proper the crest or West Wildwood the newly formed West Wood Yes okay so the it's called DHA is the tanning agent inside the solution.

Okay so the percentage of DHA is going to determine how dark you get interesting point number one. Point number two is how you respond to natural sunlight and how you tan in natural sunlight is also going to determine how dark you'll develop. So for example So there's a genetic piece to it there is there is so if I sprayed the two of you with the same solution I would do it much better. Much more did you know I was gonna say that much more handsomer I mean I can't do abs I get that question all the time too can you spray abs can you do I I we can not an artist. I mean Moon doesn't need to spray absurd there's contouring there's there's a there's a art called contouring but but if I sprayed the two of you the same exact we wouldn't look the same.

No we won't you would look darker yeah and you would look fairer lit up because I look true Irish and he looks you know he's he's half Italian so yes yes so that's the answer to the question.

Everyone thinks when I get the spray tan it's going to Jenny got this I don't look like Jenny just spray me like Jenny. Exactly it doesn't work that way. And it adheres to the top layer of your skin so it's the amino acids in the let's say the dead skin cells that react with the spray tan solution. So think about it if you sliced open an apple the apple browns once it reacts with the oxygen it's pretty much the same thing.

Hey everyone this is Tim your favorite bricks and risk co-host but don't tell Sean. I hope you're enjoying this episode and I'll get right back to it in a moment. Our audience grows through word of mouth so if you would please take a moment of your time and give us a review on the platform you're on that would be fantastic. Please also help spread the BR word by sharing your favorite episode with a friend. We greatly appreciate your time and trust now back to the show interesting all right so there's the so there's the uh the color the tone component to it that's one piece of the education is there like a health piece to it because I gotta imagine if people are just buying random stuff online through Amazon and they start putting it on their skin and they're let's say let's call them price sensitive it's $1995 for this bottle it's gonna last me a month I go with you it's gonna be three times that for one session whatever so what is like the what's like the health component to it like what would you tell people to be like careful of like DIYing?

Well as far as self tanners are concerned when you go to a store on Amazon any place over the counter the FDA mandates that in the United States you cannot put the percentage of DHA on that label. Oh so you have no idea you could be buying a self tanner and let's say the percentage of DHA is five which is low so you put it on nobody sees anything. So they put it on again nobody sees anything. So they put it on again so now this point you have no idea what the quality of the DHA is you've now put on 15% on your body when you rinse that off you're going to look orange orange is oversaturation of the product and it's if the product is expired.

So did you just say the FDA mandates that they cannot so you can name DHA in your product in the product and not what percentage or what level now and why is that what what's your guess on why they would it's just a a rule you have to name product ingredient but you cannot say what the percentage of DHA is however the company that I get my solution from because they're regulated by the FDA I know exactly what the percentage of the self tanner has in it.

So if you use my self tanner there's eight percent DHA in there.

Yeah which is high okay yes let's dive into this let's dive into can I ask one question about Delco again we can go back to obviously I mean it's gonna be all day with Delco I just told you I got in a fight with someone I was like oh I like Delco their light this fight? No no just like they were mad at me they like Delco and things Delco and I was like Haverton is like is Delco? No. Delco Light Delco Light.

Yeah I like Delco Light you know it's kind of like cleansing I should drop that to someone from Delco and see if I see if they get mad at me.

You might get a fight have you ever sprayed anyone and it was like totally bad and totally awful and you walked away like maybe it was early in your career and it was like you're like shit oh no what did I do?

No because basically if I'm full disclosure being honest it's pretty much foolproof. You spray a little bit and you're gonna know how and then a little bit more when you train it's more or less practicing on bodies because for you to become a good spray tannerist you can get any product you want. Okay so everyone I choose the product that I use just because I happen to like the company they're in the states I'm getting it direct from them I could speak to the owners all of those things. But everybody loves the product that they love okay it's all in the practice and your style because when you first do spray I used to spray tan my daughter she was in kindergarten and I used to say get in the tent and let me try right I mean her legs oh boy she would go to school I'm the teacher what's going on yeah said let it let it said that you were spray tanning. I said yeah she's like mom I told her you were practicing I said oh oh okay I mean she looked hideous. Yeah yeah but again I was too much learning your craft but I I was but I would use my daughter and I the five year old can't use a cabbage patch kid. And you you have to use live skin I mean I literally tortured her I would say use the skin prep do this the night before do this the day of and I would actually see what worked better. Do you do it 24 hours prior do you do it you know a couple hours prior and she she would she was my guinea pig.

So love you Anna we should scroll through it was like no one was harmed in the training of this uh how do they do that?

Yeah so no one was harmed yeah no no one no one no she's she's 17 today so she's fine. Um so but to go back to your question it comes down to the the the practice more or less yeah because you have to feel confident before you're actually uh willing to provide a service to the public because it's just like anything else you go to a restaurant yeah and you get food poisoning once you're never going back to that restaurant again. I don't care if you get a get different gift it doesn't matter. One bad spray tan is my reputation.

I'm gonna guess that one of your hardest parts of your business because we just got into a lot of like scientific technical stuff about the tanning is convincing people that or having them understand what you do and and why like the difference. Yeah I mean I mean there must be a ton of people that look at you like a hundred dollars for a spray tan or I don't know like DHA what? Whoa whoa I'm not that I'm not okay so she's not delco light spray tan less than that but but uh I could buy a jar for ten dollars and it lasts me a month so I I guess that's the the one thing to to try to have uh educate people and have them understand what you're doing so self-tanning is exactly that so you have to be able to if you have someone that could get your back how or if you had a two year old daughter I used my two year old son for that no it looks good I mean he was a yes so the self tan I love self tanners.

Yeah however you're not gonna probably get the same result as you would have it's not gonna be the same level of application there's gonna be spots there's gonna be exactly it's good for a quick I'm heading to this event and all I need to do is do this and do this.

Arms face back or your legs whatever anything that's going to be exposed but if you're going on a trip and you have a wedding or you're you're going to a honeymoon honeymoon definitely for those we went into this before before the show started what I miss oh damn there was equal parts Delco and equal parts um the geographical sprain geographical sprain like so so what she was explaining was if you're going to a wedding and you want to look glowed up and your dress like you just need your arms or whatever that's one form of spread what you can see like visibility or what other people can see take your shirt off you're gonna look a little bizarre sure so but that's what a farmer's stand is too right but if you're on your honeymoon then there's gonna be much more visibility wreck because you're probably at a pool or maybe a pool bar or both more oh that oh you're talking the whole visibility not just shirts off visibility yes shirts and pants off yeah gotcha okay that makes sense all right so someone's always looking at your spray tanks just put it that way okay so someone's always looking at your spray tan.

So sometimes your toughest critic set exactly exactly but there's a difference between if a couple is going to a wedding or if they're going away for the week. Sure.

So I make sure no all body parts of the wheel is unturned or every stone is turned uh there I leave no stone unturned yeah when you're you know what's interesting you you made an analogy to like um like food poison like like going out to eat yes which also like going out to get a drink yes so like the other I'll I got a good example it was like a week week and a half ago I made homemade cheesesteaks.

How'd that go?

It went really well did you go to Joe's from Glenside? I did. Shout out to Joe's Market, Glenside Pennsylvania you have a Blackstone? I do. I have Blackstone so I cook on it regularly I've never cooked cheesesteaks on because I've only had it for maybe like two years and I just haven't done it yet. So I got I got some intel.

What's on there?

Yeah yeah what were you waiting for? I mean I make all sorts of stuff uh so anyway so um I'm making the cheesesteaks and what I did in my head I'm like okay here's what paid for the rolls here's what I paid for you know the beef the cheese of course I had to get Cooper Sharp the onion and I did some math I'm like that really wasn't that different from me going to let's say like Verona or Angelos or Delas Sandros all these places I like and ordering a cheesesteak. Sure. It really wasn't that different which like you're thinking okay like I can cook that high-end meal from that restaurant that I like. It's $40 there but by the time you get all those ingredients it's probably gonna be like 40 or 50 bucks like I can make that drink at home. It's like it's $10 or it's $15 at the bar that I like. Yeah but you might not make it that well. Sure. So I think the artistic component to all this I think plays into it because when people DIY just like I did with cheesesteaks one it's not going to taste as good two it might be a similar cost and three had to spend all that time and effort to go out to research it to drive there to buy it to make it and then be like that wasn't that wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be exactly so there is like so I think the artistic component this is why restaurants sell food and bars serve drinks there is an artistic component to what you do and therefore the people who appreciate the artistic component they don't have any problem at all with you showing up their house, sending them to tent in the living room and giving them a a high quality spray tank. Exactly and they're like that's what I want I want that it's very very true. Very true.

It's interesting and a lot of people contact me too because we talked about the safety factor or the wellness part of it or the health part of it. I mean melanoma is a is a big thing and I do have clients we haven't even talked about that yet yeah I I I do have clients who are melanoma survivors and they come to me because they can't be in the sun and we really shouldn't be in the sun as much as we are in the sun and if you're going to be in the sun you need to protect your skin because I I I see everything. I see people who come with sunburns like sun poisoning? Well I can't spray tan I can't I can't spray tan you if you have no sunburn skin but you'd be surprised I see people who come tell me they haven't been in a tanning bed.

Yes you have because I can tell is there some block uh dumb question is there some block that's uh part of it or no?

There is not no so it's not a bar I always tell people this all the time it's not a barrier to the sun you're going to need like you burn yesterday without it you're gonna burn tomorrow with it. It's very very true. Yeah so you need sunscreen but you also need a sunscreen that's compatible right with the Sprite Tanner. The product.

Yes let's let's dive into margin a little bit. Again this this is a business show so we like to again you're you have a very entrepreneurial business and what I love about your business when we were talking at the barbecue is that you can go get the proper training. Yes. It's not a ton of money to get in and you can make your money back and then some fairly quickly. That's an entrepreneur's dream in my opinion. Because there's some businesses you go out you spend all this money, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and like it's gonna take me five years to get my money back. Yeah. So what is you know do you have any sense of like what a margin is like On a spray tan. Is it 25%? Is it 75%? Like 970%. I know you're not a numbers person.

It's a million percent.

Right, right.

It's about 75%.

Infinity.

That's a see, that's a really all right, and then let's talk about like the mobile spray tanning versus I got a storefront and Delco, and everyone comes in and I spray them, and it's got my vibe, and they come out, give them a glass of champagne, I spray it, and who's next? And I spray them down.

So I converted my garage to my at-home boutique. No way. I didn't know this. Yeah. I don't think we talked about this. Yeah. That's cool. My garage is my home base. So this is where I spray tan my prom girls.

You need to do 10 at a time. Yes. Have them come through instead of you going to ten houses or something.

Or or the time of day for a high school girl to get their spray tans around their uh sports and their practices. I mean, I'll spray tan you whenever you want, but I'm not coming out of my house at 9.30 at night to spray tan 15 girls. So I converted my garage probably about, I would say six years ago. And it's been very helpful because if my kids' schedules are crazy and I can't get to you, if you really want that spray tan, you're gonna come to me. And some people will say, I said, Listen, I can't come to you. You're you're 25 miles away, unless you get me four people. Right, I'm not coming there. But you're more than welcome to come to me. Yeah. They will nine times out of ten.

Well, you've spoken like a true business owner. You know who you can service and who you can't.

Sure. And and the mobility part of it, now I try to keep the mobile piece of my business during the day. Because that's when my kids aren't home. Not that they're young.

No traffic.

No traffic. But that's when it works for me. Because when everybody comes home, you you know how it is.

Yep.

It's the meals and it's the this and it's who's arguing.

Homework and sports and everything.

All the thanks. All the thanks. So that was very important to me. So the having the home base, because I don't have to pay for the brick and mortar. I just pay for the facelifts from time to time.

That's awesome. All right. One thing we get into too, and again, sometimes people have a hard time expressing this or talking about it is biggest struggle. So biggest struggle for you, you put down was social media and tech. Why is that a struggle for you?

Well, personally, social media and all technology, generally speaking, is a challenge for me.

Just not a skill set you have.

It is not.

It is not.

So how about for your business? It is not. The last time I posted. Tim, that applies to both. The only reason I know the last time I posted is because it was my daughter's birthday. It was May 23rd. And I posted last night. I posted last night. Two months. Almost two months of that tonight. That was great. There we go. So it is a struggle. It is a struggle. However, it's like I said, the social media that exists out there because everyone's there. If I gave who's popular today, uh let's just say a Kardashian.

Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift.

Yep.

If she said Jason Kelsey.

I'm sorry, Travis Kelsey.

If I sprayed Jason's famous too.

Jason lives in Delco.

He does. Delco lives in life. It is Delco. It's okay. Yeah, it's okay. This is going to happen. Sorry, Jason.

So if I what were we saying again? You got me on the phone.

We're talking about tech. Technology, social media media.

So if I gave someone very famous, locally famous or very famous. Hoagie Dom. Like Sean Mooney. Like Sean Mooney. If he said, this is the self-tanner that I use, that's gonna I my business will be.

You're gonna need three garages if you do that.

Exactly. So it comes down to that. So these influencers get on there and all they're talking about is how great the tan is, how great the product is. That that's that's great. And that might work great for you. But when you come to me and you bring me the bottle and I look at the ingredients, like half these words you can't even pronounce. Why would you put that on your body? Oh my God.

So that's you uh so the way that my mind goes is it's these wheels start spinning. Here we go, folks. I uh what what do you do now for marketing, or you don't really do anything for marketing?

It's mainly word of mouth.

Word of mouth. Yes. Are you looking to grow, or are you kind of at a point where you're like, you know what? I'm I got this thing and it's manageable and I like where I'm at.

So succession planning.

It's a good question.

We were talking a little bit about this at the barbecue. For me at this point, I think succession planning is probably on the horizon for me.

Yeah.

In the sense that at some point in time, the well's gonna run dry. When my daughter graduates from high school, she's a senior.

Yeah.

And for all these years, I've had her friends, the grades above her, so that's been a very good revenue flow. She's natural ambassador.

Yes. Awesome. Does she get rips?

Uh no. Yeah.

She gets to live at my house. Yes, she does. It's room and board.

And she drives a car. And so she works, but she's all right.

Well, let's dive into this a little bit more.

So in a perfect world for me, moving forward with the business. I would like to be. Is that if everyone's listening out there, I would like to be able to be able to be able to do that. We have millions of listeners, Marla.

Tens of millions.

The person who gets hired, say I work with a wedding venue. Yeah. Let's just use that for simplicity. Yep.

Yep.

They have a bridal party. They offer me as a preferred vendor. I come in there, I talk to the group, we sell the spray tan. So I would like to get hired either by the event venue or that bridal party to come in and make a lot of money right off the bat.

So it's like that's almost that's more of a B2B approach. You've been doing B2C, you know, business of consumer, where it's like your friends, friends of friends, your daughter's friends. Yes. So that's how your business has grown. But B2B is different, especially for your business. Because you're like, if I can, if I can get in relationship with that wedding venue, they have weddings all the time. All the time. And the relationship is my business to their business. I just happen to enhance their business by offering this very high-quality artistic spray tan. And they enhance your business because now you are making more money and doing more sales. So it sounds like B2B is a you know a goal of yours. Like, how do I, you know, or like who am I talking to to go a little bit more B2B with my business so that I'm not really spraying everyone, but if I wasn't here, I wouldn't have this B2B relationship.

Exactly. I've met so many people. It's funny because the the joke is that I'm the mayor of Malvern because I've just met so many people.

Wait until you have a deeper conversation with Mooney. He will give you 19 ideas on how to on how to parlay that into like all these B2Bs.

Well, okay, so the succession plan. I have to be very careful because if I train, say I train someone to be part of my business. Okay, they have to represent my brand in a way that I represent my brand. And I also have to have trust, which is very hard to come by, unfortunately, especially in this business, because if I bring someone on board and I train you and you can get your certification from me, and we go through my business model, if I don't make you sign a non-compete, which I have, which I haven't used in the past, that person is going to say, I can do this.

I go do this myself. Yes.

So I have to be careful of that. So at the moment, instead of hiring people like myself to come on board, I'm targeting the new graduates of high school that are now going to college.

First-time job, or, you know, it's a a step-up job, let's call it.

Sure. And I can try it, could be a side gig for them. Think about these girls who go to these universities in the South.

Oh, yeah. With the sororities, the Clemson's and the Auburns of the world.

Westchester alone has 12 sororities, but I don't mean to be snobby or selective. I don't want that business. I don't want to go on Westchester's campus and spend five hours going to the sororities and spraying 17 girls. My employee can do that. Right. And then you can have your cut, and then you could give me my cut, and I'll go relax somewhere and just bring in the money.

Well, you're starting to realize this is this is scaling. So Mooney, Mooney has scaled his insurance business. I ran a residential real estate brokerage. I scaled that. And scaling is very hard for lots of different reasons. Um I always drop the Barbara Corcoran line from Shark Tank where she would say, When you're struggling with like the trust, or like you can go do it yourself, or like you're not going to do it as well as me. One thing she used to say is 80% is good enough. So trying to have a mindset of like no one's ever going to do it as good as you do it.

Sure.

And and 80% could be anything. It could be more trust-based, it could be age. You know, they're they're more trustworthy because I'm giving them a really awesome entrepreneurial gig that is somewhat social, and they're making a ton of money spraying all these sororities down. And they wanted their artistic, like, I'm artistic. So why don't you go practice your craft and make a ton of money while you're doing? But when we need to pick up a new sorority or when someone from Westchester University wants to talk about my business, that's my meeting. I go in there and I close that sale.

Exactly.

And who's the next unit? Maybe I'm going to Newman after that and I'm telling them I can take care of your swim team or whatever. You know, I'm just throwing stuff out there.

Well, that that's to your point, that's that's how it should work because all these sororities, you don't know this until you're actually in a business where uh in in in the in the industry, because they have all this money that they set aside for like their formals.

We were in a fraternity in college.

Oh. You've had money set aside for spray tans?

Not spray tans. Okay.

Mostly like it was kegs of kegs of natural.

Uh beast, old Milwaukee. You get the point. Yes.

Skippy.

So there's money to be there's uh money to be had out there.

I have 800 ideas that are just percolating in my head.

Anyone who's visible in public probably wants to look good, correct? Okay. I go to restaurants, I see these young waitresses, and I can pick out their sp I go.

Who's doing you up?

What do you what do you do? I don't want to be like, sorry, honey, we looked at your heart. Right?

Bad life decisions you've made with your tanner.

Right? But I can tell in a split second they went somewhere that is not they either went to a booth, like the booths you stand in.

Sure.

Yeah. And the creepy man is like telling you to turn sideways and turn.

That's for real?

Oh, we've got to go do this. That'd be a fun field trip someday that we go to tanning booth, and then you guys get rid of that, and then I just spray tan you. Field trip. That's right. That's your next field trip.

Love it. This is uh as these ideas are floating in my head, that is literally an Instagram post of like you going into a booth and like recording it. Like there's like infinite see the the great thing about your business, the great thing about your business, which I've said is very similar to his business, is that it's a visual product. Sure. You're selling a house, you're selling a tanned body. Unlike insurance. Unlike insurance. Like Instagram is like made for you. Sure. Like I of my hundred ideas that I have for your business, eighty of them.

You're hired.

80 of them are Instagram ideas. Like, I was looking on your page, just the first one, and you have your blocks of like um and I don't even do Instagram. I don't even know. No, you hate Instagram. I hate Instagram. What do you do on giving advice? Because like because it's great for YouTube.

No, it's he's he's right. The the fundamentals of Instagram, your business really aligns with. Sure. Because it is visual and it's artistic, and people need to see the before and after and everything, you know?

So the blocks that you have that are the categories, you don't even have an education block uh part where you can go. You don't have a piece to an education. But that's one of the most intricate important parts of your business. And like that's what separates you from the voice in the box thing that's spraying or the th or the stuff that you're buying on Amazon. Like me, if I were doing this, as one of the things that I were concentrating number one, Instagram is Instagram, Instagram, Instagram. Your business is like you think so?

You don't think it's TikTok with all these Noah? No, you think it's Instagram?

I think it's Instagram.

Okay.

But I don't know TikTok, so I you could probably convince me otherwise because kids are on Twitter.

For sure.

So for me, I would have we a daily or weekly education. I would literally have a channel like blocks reading ingredients for top Amazon products. And be like, Do you realize what you're putting in your body?

Yes.

I don't know. For me, it's like if if I were to sit in the mentoring session from Sean Mooney. I mean I and I just uh and so the other one would be I would because you can do this on Instagram, you can go to uh punching a town in Delco, like whatever what whatever town you want, right? Telling down, right? Uh, and you can see who posts on a location wise on Instagram. And what I would do if I were running the show would be to find the top posters in that town. So if you want to be in Newtown Square, it's a great idea. If you want to be in Newtown Square, find out who's the number one poster, who's the biggest influencer in Newtown Square, and I would be like, hey, five free tants.

Yes.

And then when what if they're your age?

What at a time?

Go ahead. Go ahead.

So in the early stage of my business, when the influencers weren't really influencers, I could solicit any one of them. I could go on their page and I could say this, let me come in and do a spray tan. Of course I'm gonna do it for free. As they grew and as the years went on and they became more popular, now it's well, if you want to work with me, it's five thousand dollars. Right.

That's easy. Is it? Yeah. Oh I'm gonna give them five thousand dollars. Yeah, you don't. Oh, yeah, I don't use that. You find the right analogy. You have to find No, this is my point. Yeah.

Like, like so we taught this this ties it all up. Your business when you started, yes, you shed out people that didn't fit your profile. Sure. You're getting shedded out of that influencer's business cycle. Yes. You just find the next influencer. Right. I'll build you the Rolodex. You tell me with tan, I'll find the people. I I mean, it doesn't fit like that person you worked with.

Sure.

It doesn't work anymore.

It doesn't work anymore. The math doesn't matter. Right. The math doesn't matter.

But that doesn't mean you stop using influencers.

You just go to the next tier. Right. Yeah.

I'm a center. All right, so your quote was awesome. Your quote was people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel by Maya Angelou. Why that quote?

It's hanging on my fridge. It was hanging on my grandmother's fridge.

Awesome.

That passed on to me.

Why does that mean a lot to you? Like, what about that? What about that screams Marlot? Like, why that quote?

Well, I think it goes back to one of the reasons why I love this business so much because people are in a vulnerable state when they're in my spray tent tent. And you know, they're don't have clothes on. They have they're going through things. I'm kind of like the therapist, the Don't judge me before before you come in. Exactly. I get that all the time. But sometimes there's real conversations that happen. I'm there when people get divorced. I'm there when pets die. I'm there when things happen with their kids. And if I kind of went in there and was just like, okay, all business. See you later. I'll spend a half hour or 45 minutes with them just talking. Because after that, I made them feel how they didn't before. Right. And I think that's you could say a thousand words to people. They don't mean anything, or if they don't feel your integrity or your passion, what's the what's the difference? Like I could say, hey, you look good today. But if I was like Tim, you like look amazing.

Tim, I'm ready to spray you down.

You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. I just feel like it's it might be a very Italian thing too, that we're very I think it's, you know, I think if you like people, you like people.

And if you're kind of turned off by people or they frustrate you or your patience runs thin with people, then you're not really into that. You might be a little bit more analytical or maybe you want to be in engineering or accounting. Like nothing against those industries, but it doesn't have a whole lot to do with people, it has a lot to do with numbers. But when you're in these businesses where you are servicing human beings, sure, and if you're not into that, it's probably not gonna go very well. Because your whole business is based on building that relationship one person at a time. Yes. One human being at a time. Because if you make your mark, like this quote, they're never gonna forget that. And your business will always grow naturally, organically, through the best clients you have, the friends, the family, the neighbors, the people, you know, from Collingdale that are just like, I will drop your name every chance I get. Yeah. Because I love you and you're my people. And and that's that is where that goes. So I think that's fantastic.

Um so but isn't it something that I got I got I mean, I'm gonna keep going for a coup here we go for hours. He's gonna spool you, he's gonna spoil you on Facebook now.

Who would have thought? Who would have thought Straight Channing would have brought this out? Jeez, oh man.

Um But no, it's um it's like going to the beauty salon, right? Like if you're getting your haircut, and this is a woman thing, I get it. Um, but if you go to the salon, it's yeah, I need a haircut, but I also go to Betty because I can like pour my heart out to Betty. Yes. And I may like I may need a haircut, I may not need a haircut, but every six weeks or four weeks, I'm getting my haircut because it's my session with Betty. I think that's a lot like you that people probably look forward to and anticipate my time with Marla. Yes. Right?

They they do, they do. I I have people that are like rushing in my garage, like, I guess what? I went on a date. I'm like, yay! Yeah, yeah. Tell me all about it. Yeah. Or the young girls. I know more information than I want to know.

I'm sure now.

So uh to your point and to this subject matter, sometimes I have to say, you know, to my daughter, like, listen, I know that your friends and everyone feel comfortable, but I'm still the the adult and I'm still someone's mom. Right. And I can't be put in a position where there's compromise. I mean, I'm your friend, but I'm not gonna I'm not that friend. And these girls, I love that they feel comfortable, how I how that make them feel. But at the same time, there's a boundary there. Yeah. There's a boundary there. But it is fun to um I I love meeting so many different people. Oh, you love people. I do. I I I really do. And people ask me this all the time. Well, why would you go from nursing to spray tanning? But if you take a look at my career path, everything has touched kind of the same thing. I've always been involved with people. There's always been a sales element to it. And to me, it just came full circle, just in a different way.

It's a different version of what you were doing previously. You know, and this one just happens to be your business and you're kind of one-on-one with these people, making them look good. Yes. Anybody out there needs a awesome conversation.

So a clothes. So before we shut this one down, why don't you tell our bricks and riskers where they can learn more about you and everything you got going on?

Sure. You can find me on Instagram at Insoa Glows, Facebook at Ensoa Glows, and my website is www.insoa glows.net.

Awesome.

Well, that's all we have for this one, folks. Thank you for tuning in again to another episode of Bricks and Risk. See you next week. Thank you for joining us on another episode of Bricks and Risk. Our goal is that you walk away with one or two valuable nuggets, and we greatly appreciate you sharing your time with us today. You can find all BR episodes on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and anywhere else you get your podcast content. Until next time, keep learning and keep growing.