CEO Bookshelf

Dallas entrepreneur Tony Hartl revolutionized the tanning business, bringing a megastore sensibility to an industry that was fragmented and unsophisticated.

Using what he calls a “big-picture, big-brand mentality,” Hartl took his Dallas startup, Planet Tan, from three locations to 17 by 2008. After 13 years he sold Planet Tan for millions, the same month he turned 41.

Pointing to his simple mission statement – “Work hard. Have fun. Make history” – and his vow to make the stores fun, stylish, and hip, Hartl contends the example set by Planet Tan can benefit other companies and entrepreneurs.

Thus this book-a quick, simple read that’s organized into eight chapters and 75 “tips” for budding entrepreneurs. The tips by Hartl, who was reared poor by an inspirational waitress mother outside St. Louis. can seem a little obvious at times. But there’s no doubting his sincerity or the success of his approach:

Find a reason to celebrate.

It’s part of creating a positive, supportive work environment, Hartl says: “1 launched an annual contest that ran for three months during our peak season. Everyone on the staff had a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to Cancun, Mexico.

Get in the trenches.

You’ve got to fight from the front lines, Hartl says: “If you’re willing to work longer and harder than anyone else, that work ethic will permeate the entire team.”

Accept responsibility.

Once, after fixing a customer’s billing problem-she’d been double-charged – Hartl sent flowers to the customer and delivered the bouquet himself Grace in all situations.

“Do not put yourself above others or take advantage of the less powerful,” Hartl says.

Provide real encouragement.

Here, Hartl quotes Mary Kay Cosmetics founder Mary Kay Ash: “Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, ‘Make me feel important Never forget this message when working with people.”

Associate with winners.

Planet Tan forged unique alliances over the years with the Dallas Stars, Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks, and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Says Hartl: “We understood that if we could align … with certain influencers and strategic partners, we could establish our brand more quickly and we could make ourselves seem much larger than we were.”

The Planet Tan founder – who’s a member and huge fan of the Entrepreneur’s Organization, by the way-is donating 100 percent of the proceeds from Selling Sunshine to the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, a group that helps youngsters from poor families – like young Tony Hartl’s – develop their business skills.

~Glenn Hunter

Some terrific thoughts from Entrepreneur.com on how to prepare your business for a sale:

Work on a succession plan. What do you want to happen after you leave? Write up a plan that spells out your wishes. If you’re considering passing on or selling the business to a family member or employee, notify them of your intentions. Ensure that your plan answers questions about who will be in charge, how much of a stake they will acquire and at what cost. It should also offer a timeline for the transfer of power.

Groom a successor. The world of family business is full of sad stories about owners who suddenly decide to retire and drop the business into the lap of a brother or daughter with little training or notice. Start teaching your heir apparent about the business’s operations and finances now, and assume it may take many months or even a year or two to pass on all the knowledge. Notice their weak points and either train or hire professionals to help. If they have poor customer-service skills, for instance, you want to fix that before you hand off the baton.

Create a great communicator. Your successor needs top-of-the-line communication skills to influence clients, vendors, employees and others. If you don’t build this skill, Bates says, it’s like the “substitute-teacher” phenomenon: the kids will act up, not listen and accomplish little until either the sub builds confidence, or the “permanent teacher” — you — return to clean up the mess.

Show your faith. If you don’t instill confidence in the proposed successor and demonstrate to workers that you trust this person to take over and keep the business growing, you’re sowing the seeds of future problems. Make sure everyone knows who your choice is and that you’re excited about how this new leader will approach the business.

Let them be who they are. Your leader should not try to mimic your personal style or your management style. The new leader needs his or her own vision and approach. Leaders with their own strong brand will be better able to succeed as they take over the top role.

Tony dedicated some space to this in Selling Sunshine as well, and his thoughts were along the same lines, with one HUGE addition:

Run your business as if you’re going to be running it forever. The moment that you start acting like a seller, not an owner, you start making decisions that will hurt your business in the long run. Sellers play with the books to make their businesses look better on paper, and they cut costs in the wrong places, inevitably, weakening the business at a critical time.

Tomorrow, Tony will do an interview with Eric Reamer and Angel Tuccy, on Experience Pros, at 560 AM.

Be sure to listen live at 10:45 Pacific Time, 11:45 a.m. Mountain Time, 12:45 p.m. Central Time, and 1:45 p.m. Eastern! The show is based in Colorado, but you can listen in from any of 16 states in the midwest, as Eric and Angel tackle the issues that are important to small-medium sized business owners.

Listen live right here

Here’s a question that Tony gets all the time: “What’s the biggest myth about the work-life balance for entrepreneurs?”

The answer is that the biggest myth is that there is a work-life balance!

Tony’s answer to that question:

The biggest myth about the work-life balance, for many entrepreneurs, is the idea of balance. For most entrepreneurs, there are no neat little compartments for family, for health, for business, or for hobbies. Entrepreneurs see their business as their passion, and it permeates every aspect of their lives to one degree or another. They don’t want to separate it from their “home” life; taking care of a fledgling business, to an entrepreneur, is like taking care of a member of your family — there’s no 8-to-5 mentality there.

In order to be wildly successful, you’ll have to sacrifice something; usually, that means your time. When you spend your energy on your business, there’s a tradeoff in terms of all of the other other things. That’s probably the biggest myth, that you can be successful without sacrificing anything.

Tony recently got a shout-out for giving out the best advice salon owners have ever heard!

Here’s a link to the article, on LookingFit.com, and below is one of Rick Kueber’s favorite bits of advice. Thanks, Rick!

• Kueber agrees with Garlan when it comes to freebies for new clients. “Don’t worry about what you collect the day you get a new customer,” he shares. “Just make them happy.”

• There isn’t one “magic bullet” to make a salon successful – every market is different.

• Kueber shared two of the best pieces of advice he received from mentors years ago. Don Hirsch told him to invest in his infrastructure (management, HR…) before expanding, and Tony Hartl advised him to focus on his own business/salons (since we can’t control what our competitors are doing anyway).