Katie: Welcome back to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show with your hosts, Katie Laird –

Esther: - and Esther Steinfeld.

Katie: So here we are in December; out of farmer's tan season, if you're a pasty Irish like me and certainly out of golden beach goddess time, if you're much luckier than me. But that doesn't mean that you have to be stuck with glow-in-the-dark skin for your office Christmas party. Thankfully.

Esther: Who can wear a strapless dress with pasty skin?

Katie: Exactly, exactly.

Esther: I mean, except me. Other than me.

Katie: Yeah, me too, 'cause I'm not ashamed.

Esther: I embrace it, too. Thank you. Pasty skin girls unite.

Katie: Woo hoo!

Esther: I don't call it pasty. It's porcelain.

Katie: It's porcelain. (Laughter)

Esther: Okay?

Katie: There we go.

Esther: People don't even think I'm that pale, although I think I'm extremely pale. I must say. But I just try to stay away from tanning. It's an addictive habit, you know?

Katie: It is and I mean the tanning beds are – I mean they're dangerous, for sure.

Esther: So dangerous for your eyes.

Katie: Yeah, oh my gosh.

Esther: Not just your skin, but for your eyes, too.

Katie: Exactly, exactly.

Esther: So.

Katie: Kinda freaks me out a little and then I mean, what are your other options? You go to the drug store and you can get a bottle of self-tanning lotion, which also freaks me out because, you know, you make mistakes –

Esther: Right.

Katie: And those things are noticeable, you know, it's like painting on your body.

Esther: Your hands, it's your hands and your feet that get just covered in this –

Katie: The telltale orange.

Esther: - and you have to walk around your place like, like a monster, naked, waiting for it to dry.

Katie: (Laughter)

Esther: I've never done that before. No, never done that before. So anyway. That's why I love this product. I've never used it but I think –

Katie: It's a great idea.

Esther: - it's a fabulous idea. To have something that isn't toxic that you can spray on. You feel, you know, you don't feel like you're inhaling these chemicals.

Katie: Right.

Esther: And you have a beautiful, golden tan.

Katie: That's right. That's right.

Esther: So I'd love to hear more about it.

Katie: Absolutely. So Esther is talking, of course, about our amazing, upcoming interview with The BusinessMakers' very own Russ Capper.

Esther: Uh huh.

Katie: And he got to chat with two ladies, Stephanie Adams and Samantha Buchanan who own an organic, I believe they called it self-hueing system.

Esther: Ooh. Fancy.

Katie: So it's called "Throwing Copper" and basically, it's an organic professional spray on tan.

Esther: It's pretty awesome.

Katie: It's – it really is exciting. So let's hear what these guys have got to say.

Russ: I'm excited to hear about Throwing Copper. In fact, let's start there Stephani. Why don't you tell listeners what is Throwing Copper?

Stephani: Well, Throwing Copper is what we call an organic body-hueing company. And what that is, is a unique form of air-brush tanning.

Russ: Body-hueing, unique air-brush tanning. So we're talking about competing now against the tanning salons.

Stephani: In a way, yes, because we absolutely encourage everyone not to go to tanning beds. We offer a healthy alternative to sun tanning, so yes, I guess you could say we're in direct competition with them.

Russ: Okay, competition to laying on the beach somewhat unclothed trying to soak in those rays, right?

Stephani: Yes, absolutely. Although we love the sun and we are both former sun worshippers, I would say, but we get a healthy dose just sitting outside. We don't' need to lay out in the sun for hours. You need to come and see us to get a beautiful tan instantly.

Russ: Okay, well we all know the difficulties that sun and tanning beds will wreak on our own skin, so I guess you guys are trying to overcome that as is anybody that's trying spray-on type tan. Is that right, Samantha?

Samantha: Yes.

Russ: Okay, so what's different about Throwing Copper and – I heard Stephani use the word 'organic.' Tell us about that.

Samantha: Yes, our solution is a nice, natural, clean solution. No alcohol or paraffins, nothing bad for you is in the solution.

Russ: And is that unique even for spray-on type tans?

Samantha: Definitely. Only a few businesses that we're aware of in the country offer a solution that's organic.

Russ: Okay. I assume, is it right that air-brushing on tanning solution is definitely a step up compared to the store-bought type rub-on solutions?

Stephani: Absolutely. The reason is we do a beautifully custom hand sprayed tan with an airbrush gun so we make sure you get every inch covered, as my business partner, Samantha, says, "Seamless." And we love that because we definitely don't want to advertise that you have spray tans. We want it to look as natural as possible.

Russ: Okay. Using an airbrush, I would assume that that means there's definitely some artistic talent required.

Samantha: Most definitely. That's one of the most rewarding parts of it for me as someone who loves to paint and working with my hands and it's definitely considered an art to me.

Samantha: I think it takes, you know, a certain person with a creative hand to do this kind of work. With proper training and, you know, a lot of practice it's what we needed.

Russ: When customers come in, do they get pretty specific with what they're asking you to do or do they just say, "Hey, make me tan."

Stephani: We have a consultation when you first come in and we describe our four shades or hues, going from honey, which is our lightest, copper being medium and chestnut's medium dark and what we call mud is richly dark. And so we can consult with them with their skin tone and what event they're going to. We ask them if they want to look like they did spend a week in Cabo or do they just want a healthy glow? And then some people just say, "Can you do my face darker?" And we just bump it up a shade and go from there. And it's all in the solution, the amount of percentage of the DHA product.

Russ: What is DHA?

Stephani: DHA is actually a dye from beets. It reacts with the skin – the top layer of your skin to actually dye it.

Russ: Okay. And that's part of the organic process that you use.

Stephani: Yes, I mean the beets are natural and can be grown organically so there you go.

Russ: Okay, now I suspect that it would be an offering that is primarily of interest to lighter-skinned people?

Stephani: Well, up front it seems so and that would be the most obvious person and that is the majority of our clients. However, we got informed – right when we started we asked all people of all shades and African American people said, "Well, you would not know it, but we have different tones to our own skin. And we would love a product that would even us out." And actually our product does, indeed, even out African American skin tones.

Russ: Okay, so you have African American customers as well.

Samantha: We do. And ways of evening out skin tone, I have worked with several clients with the skin disorder vitiligo. It's been very rewarding working with these clients just because it's a really nice, natural way of evening out their skin tone, which there's nothing besides a really heavy makeup that these people have been able to use until this.

Russ: Now before I let you ladies go, let's imagine that there's a young, aspiring entrepreneur listening right now. What sort of general advice would you give them? Let's start with you, Stephani.

Stephani: Well, our experience with Throwing Copper was very fortunate that we were able to keep our costs low in start up. And so, of course everybody strives to not lose money and so that's the best advice I can give.

Russ: That made it a lot easier to not lose money, if you're able to do that. All right.

Stephani: And of course, you know you've got to like what you do.

Russ: Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, that's right on. Samantha, how about you?

Samantha: Of course I agree with Stephani and I would just really say just remember that you deserve to do something that you love and do it with integrity.

Russ: Okay, do you guys feel maybe lucky that you fell into something that you really like and something that you were able to start with a very low cost of start up?

Samantha: Of course. I smile every day to go and do what I do.

Esther: I just love an entrepreneur who has passion for what they do.

Katie: That's neat, yeah.

Esther: That really – I mean it doesn't even matter what you do. You could sell anything.

Katie: You could sell toilet paper and as long as you're passionate about toilet paper or the butts that you serve.

Esther: Right.

Katie: You know, it makes every late night, it makes every, you know, sacrifice completely worth it.

Esther: It definitely does.

Katie: So yeah. Hats off to Samantha and Stephanie, for sure.

Esther: You're listening to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com.