Interview: Tony Hartl, Author of Selling Sunshine

Book Title:
Selling Sunshine

Website URL:
http://sellingsunshinebook.com

Social Media Links:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tonyhartl
Facebook: http://facebook.com/sellingsunshine
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyhartl

What is your book about?
My hope is that Selling Sunshine will equip readers to create and maintain fulfilling businesses – no matter who those readers are. I built my business from the ground up, starting with three locatiosn in Dallas, and I received a great deal of helpful advice and learned many lessons along the way. I’ve divided the book up into 75 helpful tips to make the lessons I’ve learned easier to apply to any situation, and I hope that entrepreneurs will find them useful!

What inspired you to write your book?
After Planet Tan was sold and especially after my mom‘s passing, I had a yearning to do something more with my life. This book, in fact, is a conduit to give something back.

I wasn‘t born with a powerful social circle or the preverbal silver spoon in my mouth. But through people like my mom, virtual mentors found in books and magazines, and a close circle of personal friends and mentors, I learned a great deal about how to do business and life well. My hope for this book is to inspire entrepreneurs of all ages and backgrounds, helping them along the way as so many people have helped me.

For that reason, I‘m donating 100 percent of the proceeds from this book to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a national organization that helps young people from low-income communities build their business skills and unlock their entrepreneurial creativity.

How did you come to do what you’re doing today?
After I sold Planet Tan, I went on a 12-month, whirlwind tour of the world, from hiking through Patagonia in Argentina to cycling through the countryside in Italy to running in a marathon in Dallas.

Following my trip, I’ve continued to work with the Nexus Recovery Center and the S.M. Wright Foundation. I’m also discovering a new passion for teaching, and I have become a guest lecturer at Southern Methodist University. I’ve also joined the board of directors for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NTFE), where I’ve been volunteering since 2009.

Can you describe a typical day in your life?
On a typical day, I wake up between 5:30 and 6 a.m., drink a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice and take a spoonful of peanut butter (to avoid taking vitamins on an empty stomach) and run about seven miles. I come home to breakfast (six egg whites, a half cup of oatmeal and blueberries with some East Texas honey), before responding to my e-mails and writing a few thank-you notes. Most days, I’ll head out after that for some Yoga (at Sunstone in Dallas) or to the gym for an hour of working out, then head back for lunch, typically chicken breast and salad. I spend my afternoons involved with various philanthropies or working on my book, Selling Sunshine, and I relax in the evenings for a few hours with a book and a glass of red wine.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
Having sold Planet Tan, I’ve had the time, financial freedom, and flexibility to follow new dreams and literally explore the world. In many ways, I’ve started a whole new life since I retired. But I didn‘t retire in the traditional sense; instead, I set off to get re-inspired. In addition to realizing a personal goal of traveling the world, I’ve identified organizations of socially conscious entrepreneurs and found ways to get involved with them.

Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?
Many, many people have impacted me along my journey, and they’ve done so across the board, whether they were business competitors who I communicated with and learned from, employees who cared a great deal about my business, or the group of Entrepreneurs’ Organization members I met with monthly for years.

I was also lucky to have adopted some “virtual mentors” early in life, including Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, and Benjamin Franklin (I even have a big painting of Ben Franklin in my office). I thought of these virtual mentors as my imaginary board of directors or personal advisory group.

As I got into business, I began reading thought leaders like Jack Welch and Peter Drucker, and by emulating these leaders I became a better one myself.

Can you share some business tips for our readers?
One counterintuitive idea which helped me in the long run is to befriend your competition. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t compete – we played to win – but my relationships even with direct competitors helped me to refine my own business model at Planet Tan. Most of my own business “secrets” were out in the open: we hired the best people and made sure that our members had top-notch, repeatable experience every time they came to Planet Tan. So I took every opportunity to share ideas and information with my competitors, as long as it was reciprocated. We had information to share to make each of our businesses better, and I saved a great deal of money as a result!

Can you share something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
As I’ve shared in my book, Selling Sunshine, my life growing up seemed chaotic and sometimes desperate, so I did everything I could to create normalcy. When we lived in Cahokia, Illinois, the chimney of our rented house collapsed, and we couldn‘t afford to get it fixed. I wanted to do something about it, so I climbed up on the roof and did the best I could to lay the bricks back in place. I then dug out a little circular garden in the yard and planted some flowers that I surrounded with the unused bricks. To me, the flowers represented something beautiful. Maybe I couldn‘t have the proverbial white picket fence, but I at least had one little beautiful spot in the front yard. That’s why, to this day, I still keep fresh-cut flowers in my home and maintain a small garden.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Never forget the importance of what creates a vital community. Keeping that in mind has a real world impact; it starts with people who are connected with and concerned about each other, and out of that love and caring grows a society that likewise cares about its members. Looking for the time to spend with people in need – in my case, that’s at-risk teens – is worthwhile, and it’s good for your soul, good for the child, and good for the community.