When Lisa Brooking left the corporate world to start her own indoor tanning business in 2003, she didn’t picture herself spending time with city council members, state senators and congressional leaders.

That all changed in 2010. As Brooking sees it, it had to. And she’d like others to learn from her experience.

As Brooking led the expansion of True Colors Tanning from one store to 10 in eight years time, she recalls the revelation that she had to stop being “in the business” — having daily operational success rely on her being there to fix things and to answer every question — and she had to start working “on the business” while systemizing daily answers for her staff.

Part of working “on the business” was making sure political leaders understood the value her professional tanning business provides to its southern Indiana communities.

That mission became crystal clear when Brooking saw a decline in business in 2010 — a dip she believed was due not only to the downturn in the economy, but also because of anti-UV lobbying, some of which was going on in the Indiana legislature while still more cascaded from the 2009 imposition of the 10 percent federal tax on UV tanning.

“I’m a forecaster,” she explains. “I didn’t see that decrease coming in 2010. That decrease made me realize I can’t wait for other salons or associations to do this for me. I had to do it myself. When my tan counts dropped in 2010, I realized I can’t sit around and wait for someone else to make my bank payment.”

She got involved. And she’d like to encourage other serious owners in the market to follow her example. Her message: Use your industry resources, work with the industry associations and apply what you learn in your own community at the local level.

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