The serendipitous path that led Ivy Potter to find a passion in tanning has turned out to be as much of a blessing for the industry as it has for Ivy herself. She’s spent more than a decade building her business, Bronze Sol, and helping countless clients achieve better tanning results than they’d ever thought possible. After developing a reputation as a spray tanning guru, Ivy also embraced another objective: Helping other tanning professionals maximize their own success.

“I’ve learned how empowering it is for women to become part of this industry. I make six figures a year doing spray tans, and I have been able to share that passion with people from around the country,” Ivy says.

“I’m passionate about our industry as a whole, but with sunless tanning, I’ve had the opportunity to provide better spray tans worldwide. The more educated technicians there are, the more people are going to spray tan. I want to provide technicians with the education they need to not make mistakes, to provide better spray tans and better product knowledge.

The way Ivy sees it, every spectacular spray tan, no matter if it comes from Bronze Sol, another salon in her town, or one on the other side of the country, benefits her business and the industry as a whole. She’s driven to share her gifts through her now full-time role with Norvell and other industry educational efforts in part because she knows there’s plenty of room for success to go around, and the best thing we can do as an industry is keep creating more and more “walking billboards” for spray tans.

“We rise by rising others. We become better people when we lift people up. I train my competition in my town. Spray is still such a new business, and there are so many clients out there that want the best possible spray tans. They might not choose me, but the more people there are walking around with the best spray tans, the more people are going to come to me and you,” she says.

While Ivy has “made her name” on the sunless side, her tanning expertise goes well beyond the scope of spray tanning. With education and prior job experience that prepared her well for other aspects of business operation, followed by more than a decade of operating a successful full-scale tanning business, Ivy has plenty of knowledge to share, making her an immensely valuable contributor to Smart Tan’s Virtual Educational Conference.

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