Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Adkins.
Hi Ashley, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It all started with a pink ice cream truck! I am originally from a small country town known as Ashland, KY. However, that has helped me get where I am today. Furthermore, I have lived in Charleston, SC, for seven years. I moved down here in 2014. In 2018, while earning my Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing at Ashford University, I was nominated through the International Honor Society and granted the opportunity to go to Australia to study abroad. To gain a more cultivated experience, I was allowed to invent an innovative Aboriginal travel app to pitch to the 10 billion dollar company 3M Corp. I did not know that this experience prepared me for the entrepreneurial career ahead. I always had an entrepreneurial spirit and was at a small home office space in West Ashley, SC, when I expressed the idea of mobile spray tanning in a bus to a friend. I said, “If the spray tan service is performed inside your home, how is it considered mobile?” Additionally, the spray tan artist must find a place to set up the tint in the client’s house, which can be inconvenient, invasive, and messy for them both. That’s when I realized that delivering and performing spray tans inside a bus would be convenient for the client and the artist. In June of 2022, I got the amazing opportunity to fly to Dallas, TX, and purchase a pink ice cream truck. I was blessed enough to purchase the truck from an angel of a man, funny enough, named Ay-men. Two friends came along, one of which taught me how to drive the ginormous E-350 bus, given I had never driven a truck before. This was just the beginning of the Monaco Mobile Spray Tanning journey.
I drove it back from Dallas to Charleston, SC, nonstop, totaling an 18-hour drive. It was still surreal, and I had not yet grasped that there was no manual for building this business. I am pioneering something no one has ever done. I began to look at this bus and essentially the entire endeavor as my child. It needed attention daily. So many unforeseen issues started to occur that it was overwhelming, but I never gave up. Therefore, I had so many hometown connections in KY, so I drove the truck back home to Ashland to seek reliable contractors and mechanics. This was extremely helpful, and I realized how loyal and supportive my friends and family were of my dreams. Being a natural redhead, I could never tan well in the sun and would always freckle, so for 12 years, all I did was spray tan. Even with spray tanning experience, I still needed certification, so amid all the chaos, I traveled to Charlotte, NC, and got certified by the Aviva Labs Spray Training.
I hosted spray tan parties in my hometown area. However, my paramount realization was when I hosted the Texas Roadhouse/Monaco Mobile Spray Tanning collaboration party. In the middle of Winter, I spray-tanned 10 men and women back to back in less than four hours in the Texas Roadhouse parking lot. Everyone was incredibly thankful for their results. They could have a cocktail and dinner, hop on the bus outside, get a spray tan, and then go back inside looking like they had just left the beach. Everyone was amazed at how innovative the concept was, including myself. It makes me feel grateful to make people feel more confident about themselves. This is why I started this entire venture. Before starting this, a friend told me, “the girl who only sees beauty in every woman found a way to make them feel even more beautiful.” After all of my fine-tuning and learning curves, I was finally ready to take it back home to Charleston, SC. Less than a year later, I now focus on events such as wedding festivals, collaborating with salons and local and national companies, and the opportunity to make all women feel more confident.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It could have been a smoother road. I felt so let down numerous times, but I never gave up. I just kept praying. There seemed to be constant dilemmas and issues with remodeling the ice cream truck, such as plumbing, finding the right contractors (who always seemed to mess something up), the expensive cost of materials, and numerous mechanical issues, with building the business. This included trying to get licensing, marketing to try and get clients, and all the other challenges it takes to build a business. I soon realized how difficult this would be for one woman to do independently.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Monaco Mobile Spray Tanning is the only mobile spray tanning studio providing airbrush services on a bus. All you have to do is walk right out of your door, step into the fabulous pink bus, get a flawless airbrushed tan, and then walk back inside your residence or wherever the location may be. I am most proud of how innovative my concept is and the level of convenience I provide. Yes, other mobile spray tanning services come to your house. However, the spray tan artist must find a place to set up all the spray tan equipment in your house, which can be inconvenient, invasive, and messy for both the client and the artist. Monaco Mobile Spray Tanning will pull up to any destination and give a client or parties a customized airbrushed tan anywhere convenient for them. These locations can be at their home, hotel, or office. You book online, provide the address, and then Monaco Mobile Spray Tanning comes to you and gives you a customized spray tan on the bus.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory was when I was 10 years old. My friend Jacob and I decided to crawl on a mobile home roof in our neighborhood. We thought it was abandoned. We decided to get up there and jump around dancing on the roof. Suddenly, a car pulled up, and it was the residents. Then Jacob, being a boy, quickly jumps off the roof and runs away. Consequently, when I go to do the same, I first fall onto the porch railing and then plop into the mud. Anyhow, you could imagine the resident’s reactions when they pulled up to their home to see two kids dancing on their roofs! I’ve always been a bit of a risk-taker. That’s what probably assisted in the decision to fly to Dallas, buy an ice cream truck, drive it back, and turn it into a mobile spray tanning business.
Pricing:
- 69.99
- 79.99
- 89.99
- 199 and up for most parties and packages
- Call for collaborations
Contact Info:
- Website: www.monacomobilespraytanning.com
- Instagram: @monacomobilespraytanning.com
- Facebook: Monaco Mobile Spray Tanning
Image Credits
Ashley Adkins
