Selling Sunshine: 75 Tips, Tools, and Tactics for Becoming a Wildly Successful Entrepreneur [Hardcover]

Tony Hartl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2011

A top entrepreneur helps readers breathe life into a stagnant business by overhauling their approach to branding and customer service. Packed with 75 simple, actionable strategies straight from the trenches of the service industry, Selling Sunshine explores the peaks and valleys of running your own business through the eyes of a proven expert. Growing up in a single-parent family in the Midwest, author Tony Hartl had the odds stacked against him. From a young age, Hartl took little more than an entrepreneurial spirit and a lot of hard work and turned it into one profitable business after another. By applying the tips detailed in Selling Sunshine, he overcame the obstacles of poverty, became a homeowner while still in his teens, and put himself through college. His greatest success, founding and running the Planet Tan Corporation, saw his net worth jump from $10,000 to millions of dollars in a thirteen-year period. Hartl's example is a blueprint for creating, maintaining, and growing a meaningful business with a fulfilling company culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Going from poor Midwestern boy to sole owner of a highly successful tanning salon business, Hartl has lived a modern-day rags-to-riches story and is happy to share the secrets of his success in this well-organized, zippy book. Chapters begin by identifying what readers will learn and end by reminding them what they just learned; like any good motivational product, easy-to-remember tricks are employed to great effect. Chapters carry one-word titles beginning with P: People, Passion, Positivity, etc. Hartl often employs alliteration ("beware of clock-watchers, cave-dwellers, can-kickers") which, while occasionally corny, makes his points easy to grasp and remember. His liberal use of inspiring quotes from all walks of life is also effective, but it's his honest, straightforward approach to teaching that makes this book, his first, so appealing. Where many leaders offer platitudes like "Share what you know," leaving readers nodding vaguely, Hartl uses his own company, Planet Tan, as an illustrative example that will make readers want to actually implement something. The author is a big fan of mentors—both virtual and real—and is unabashedly proud to emphasize the "old-fashioned values" that helped him build his brand. He may be boastful but he's hard not to like. (Jan.)
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Review

''What you'll find within these pages is the extraordinary, everyday business of honest hard work, principled practice, and constant commitment to a cause. A must-read for the business-minded.'' --Roger Staubach, Hall of Fame quarterback and executive chairman, Americas, Jones Lang LaSalle

''Going from poor Midwestern boy to sole owner of a highly successful tanning salon business, Hartl has lived a modern-day rags-to-riches story and is happy to share the secrets of his success in this well-organized, zippy book. Chapters begin by identifying what readers will learn and end by reminding them what they just learned; like any good motivational product, easy-to-remember tricks are employed to great effect. Chapters carry one-word titles beginning with P: People, Passion, Positivity, etc. Hartl often employs alliteration (''beware of clock-watchers, cave-dwellers, can-kickers'') which, while occasionally corny, makes his points easy to grasp and remember. His liberal use of inspiring quotes from all walks of life is also effective, but it's his honest, straightforward approach to teaching that makes this book, his first, so appealing. Where many leaders offer platitudes like ''Share what you know,'' leaving readers nodding vaguely, Hartl uses his own company, Planet Tan, as an illustrative example that will make readers want to actually implement something. The author is a big fan of mentors--both virtual and real--and is unabashedly proud to emphasize the ''old-fashioned values'' that helped him build his brand. He may be boastful but he's hard not to like. --Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press (January 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1608320596
• ISBN-13: 978-1608320592
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.9 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a great read January 7, 2011

By Rick

Format:Kindle Edition

Selling Sunshine is a great book for entrepreneurs. The book is full of practical tips and ideas on how to build a wildly successful business. Tony really gives great real life examples of how to your treat your employees and create a company that everyone believes in.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent & Educational Read January 7, 2011

By Lori

Format:Hardcover

This book is full of useful and achievable strategies to grow your business. It was well worth the purchase price for the abundant crop of tips I got out of it. There's no way each and every person who reads this won't walk away with at least one great idea to put in action!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great example of where all business are headed January 7, 2011

By Brandon Hartsell

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is full of take away value. Tony does a great job of laying out business ideas and then giving examples from his years leading Plant Tan. We plan to use these ideas at Sunstone Yoga to improve our customer experience. This one of those books that I believe will have meaning at many stages of growing a company. i.e. A startup will pick up different things that a more mature venture.