Catherine Webb is in the business of identifying potential, and then maximizing it. At G.T.G Tanning, she’s exhibited that knack with both the salon as a whole and the people that have helped it succeed. In just a year and a half of ownership, Catherine has revitalized a tired location with the help of an ambitious staff that has seized the opportunities they’ve been given.

Catherine’s previous ventures have included a restaurant, seed store, storage units and numerous real estate ventures – businesses that have nothing to do with indoor tanning except their potential for growth in her central Florida market.

“My background was in investing into different businesses and growing them as much as we could,” Catherine says. “I got out of all of those towards the end of last year and put my whole focus on the tanning salon. To me, it’s kind of like second nature to see something and be able to bring it to its potential.”

With few tanning options in the area but plenty of consumers, Catherine was looking to capitalize on an opportunity in tanning. When a local owner was ready to move on, she knew she could take the salon, whose previous owner lacked the capital to modernize it, and turn it into the high-end, hip tanning venue it is today.

She definitely had the vision and the skills to execute it, but as a full-time mom, Catherine could find the time to work on the business but not so much in it. So, it’s a good thing she’s willing and able to see the potential and maximize it with people, just as she can with businesses. With a mix of the previous salon’s staff and new members, she’s given them the leeway to largely control daily operations and decision-making, and they’ve embraced the opportunity and come to treat the business like their own.

“They pretty much run it on their own, outside of daily texts with the managers,” Catherine says. “They’re very self sufficient, and I trust them. If there’s anything lacking or we can build, we just work on that.”

Click here to read the entire article in the latest issue of Smart Tan Magazine online.