No Plan, No Clue, Just a Dream and a Slightly Delusional Amount of Confidence.
Things I Didn’t Have When I Started My Spray Tanning Business
Spoiler alert: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. And somehow, that worked out pretty well.
Let’s talk about starting a business when you have approximately zero clue what you’re doing.
Because when I started my spray tanning business, I didn’t have a big following, a business plan, a mentor, or even the tiniest bit of actual spray tanning experience.
What I did have was a brain absolutely overflowing with ideas, a genuine love for spray tans, and a slightly concerning ability to convince myself that I could probably figure anything out.
So, naturally, I started a business.
Looking back, there are a LOT of things I didn’t have when I started. And if you’re sitting there dreaming about starting something of your own but feeling like you need to get your life together first, I want you to hear this.
You might not need nearly as much as you think.
1. Literally ANY experience in the industry
I had never spray tanned another human being. Not once. Not even a little bit.
I just really loved GETTING spray tans and had approximately 333 ideas about what this whole thing could turn into.
Did I know how to do any of it?
Absolutely not.
Did that stop me?
Clearly not.
I learned as I went, figured things out one step at a time, and probably Googled approximately one million things along the way.
Was it the most efficient way to do things? Probably not.
Would I recommend winging absolutely everything? Also no.
But sometimes you have to start before you feel qualified to start. You can learn a lot by doing the thing instead of spending another six months researching how to do the thing.
At some point, you have to put the overthinking down and pick up the spray gun.
2. A following or literally ANYONE waiting to buy from me
No big following. No industry connections. No waitlist of women desperately waiting for their first appointment.
Just me, trying to convince complete strangers to let me see them naked.
LOL. When you really think about it, that is a WILD business model.
“Hi, we’ve never met, but would you like to take your clothes off in front of me while I spray you with a mysterious liquid?”
And somehow, people said yes.
In the beginning, I had to put myself out there, talk to people, show up consistently, and give people a reason to trust me.
There was no magic audience waiting for me to announce my business. I had to build one.
Slowly, those first clients became regulars. Regulars told their friends. Relationships grew. And little by little, I built something real.
So if you’re starting from zero followers, zero clients, and zero people who know your name, please know that zero is a starting point. Not a life sentence.
Everybody starts somewhere. Even the girl with the really good Instagram feed and the fully booked calendar.
3. Financial help or a giant pile of money
No investors. No financial safety net. Definitely no unlimited budget.
Would I have accepted a generous donation to the Bettina Bojsen Business Fund?
WITHOUT QUESTION.
Unfortunately, nobody seemed interested in funding my dreams simply because I had them. Rude, honestly.
So I had to get scrappy.
I learned to do a lot of things myself, make thoughtful decisions about where to spend money, and figure out how to make things happen without throwing cash at every problem.
And while I would never pretend that having more money wouldn’t have made certain things easier, working with what I had taught me a LOT.
It forced me to get creative, solve problems, and become resourceful in ways I probably wouldn’t have if everything had been handed to me.
Turns out, a limited budget can be a pretty good teacher.
An annoying teacher, sure. But a good one.
4. People who saw the same potential I did
This one is actually kind of funny.
I DID have people who supported me when I started, and I am so grateful for them. But I think a lot of people saw my business as exactly what it looked like on the outside: a cute little spray tanning business.
And honestly? I get it.
They couldn’t see the 47 different ideas bouncing around in my head. They didn’t know about the things I was dreaming of building years down the road. They weren’t living inside my brain, which, frankly, is probably for the best.
To them, I was starting a spray tanning business.
To me, I was starting something that I hoped would eventually become SO much bigger.
And here’s the really cool part: some of those same people now come to me with questions and ask how I did certain things.
Which is a pretty amazing full-circle moment.
The lesson? Not everybody is going to understand your vision when you’re just getting started. Some people need to see it before they believe it.
You don’t have to convince everybody.
You just have to be willing to keep building, even when other people can’t see what you see yet.
5. A mentor or someone to tell me what the heck I was doing
Ohhhhh, how I wish I had one.
Someone to ask my 500 questions. Someone to tell me when I was about to make a terrible decision. Someone who could say, “Bettina, maybe don’t spend money on that. Trust me.”
Instead, I learned a LOT of things the hard way.
Expensive lessons? Yep.
Unnecessary mistakes? Absolutely.
Moments when I wanted to shake my past self by the shoulders and ask what on earth she was thinking? More than I’d like to admit.
But those experiences shaped the way I do my Spray Tan business today. I would love to help other spray tanning artists to build their business. And this is probably what I’m going to do, soon.
Because I know what it feels like to be excited about an idea but have no idea where to start.
I know what it’s like to have questions you don’t even know how to ask yet.
And I know how much easier things can feel when you have someone in your corner who has been there before.
I want to be the person I wish I’d had when I was starting out.
The one who tells you what actually matters, helps you avoid some of the mistakes, and reminds you that you don’t have to figure everything out alone.
Because building a business is hard enough without having to reinvent the entire wheel.
6. A business plan or some grand five-year strategy
I knew the kind of experience I wanted to create. I knew how I wanted people to feel when they walked through my door. And I knew I wanted to build something I was genuinely proud of.
But the HOW?
Girl. No idea.
I didn’t have some beautifully color-coded five-year plan outlining every business, every big idea, and every milestone I would eventually hit.
Thank goodness, honestly.
Because some of my favorite things I’ve built weren’t even ideas yet when I started spray tanning.
I couldn’t have planned for opportunities I didn’t know existed. I couldn’t have mapped out a future I hadn’t experienced yet.
Instead, I focused on the next step. Then the next one. Then the next one after that.
And as I learned more, my vision grew.
Sometimes the best plan is to get moving, pay attention to what you’re learning, and let yourself change direction when something better comes along.
You don’t need to know exactly where you’ll be in five years to make a really good decision today.
7. The feeling that I was ready
I’ve never really felt fully ready for anything.
Not my first client. Not for going to my clients houses. Not for building my homepage or my product line or even Not for opening my studio.
There has pretty much always been a little voice in my head going, “Bettina, do you even know what you’re doing??”
And the honest answer has often been… not entirely, no.
But I’ve learned that feeling ready and being ready aren’t always the same thing.
Sometimes you gain confidence AFTER you do something scary. Sometimes you learn the skills by putting yourself in situations that require you to learn them.
And sometimes you just have to take a deep breath, do the thing, and try not to look too panicked while you’re doing it.
If I had waited until I felt completely confident before taking every next step, I would have talked myself out of so many opportunities.
So, if you’re waiting for the magical day when you wake up feeling 100% prepared, qualified, and completely free of self-doubt…
I hate to break it to you, but that day might not come.
Do it scared. Do it imperfectly. Just don’t let the fact that you’re new stop you from becoming really good at something.
8. The confidence that everything would work out
I’d love to tell you that I always knew I’d make it.
That I had an unshakeable belief in myself, trusted every decision, and confidently strolled through every challenge like some sort of business-owning goddess.
LOL. Total lie.
I’ve doubted myself plenty. I’ve made expensive mistakes, had ideas completely flop, questioned decisions, and lost sleep wondering whether I was doing the right thing.
Building a business is not a constant stream of inspirational quotes and exciting milestones.
Sometimes it’s exciting. Sometimes it’s exhausting. Sometimes you’re convinced you’re a genius on Monday and questioning every life choice you’ve ever made by Wednesday.
The difference wasn’t that I never doubted myself.
It was that I kept going anyway.
Early on, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t quit simply because something got hard or because I hadn’t figured it out yet.
I wanted to keep going until I was proud of what I’d built.
Not because every idea would work. Not because I’d never fail. But because I was willing to keep learning, adjusting, and trying again.
And that mindset has made all the difference.
You don’t have to know that everything will work out.
You just have to believe that you’re capable of figuring out the next step, even when things don’t go according to plan.
So, what DID I have?
A dream.
A pretty vivid imagination.
A genuine love for making people feel special.
A whole lot of ideas.
And a level of determination that probably drove everyone around me a little crazy.
I had no idea how much my little spray tanning business will grow into.
I just knew I wanted to build something.
So I started.
And then I kept going.
And then I figured out a few things.
And then I had more ideas.
And then I built those, too.
Looking back, I’m really glad I didn’t wait until I had everything I thought I needed. Because if I had, I might still be sitting around researching how to start instead of actually doing it.
And that would have been a pretty unfortunate plot twist.
If you’re waiting for a sign, this is it.
If you’re sitting there dreaming about starting your own spray tanning business, growing your existing business, or doing something that feels a little bigger than what you’re doing right now, I hope this reminds you of something important.
You don’t need more experience before you’re allowed to begin.
You don’t need thousands of followers, a huge budget, a perfect plan, or a mentor who has every answer.
You don’t even need to feel confident every single day.
You need a reason to start, a willingness to learn, and enough determination to keep showing up when things get uncomfortable.
You’ll make mistakes. You’ll change your mind. You’ll probably have a few moments when you wonder what on earth you’ve gotten yourself into.
Welcome to the club. We have coffee. Sometimes we cry into it.
But you might also surprise yourself with what you’re capable of building.
Your first idea doesn’t have to be your final idea. Your first version doesn’t have to be perfect. And you absolutely do not need to have the whole thing figured out before you take the first step.
I started with very little of what I thought I needed.
But I started anyway.
And I am REALLY, really glad I did.
Now go build the thing you’ve been thinking about.