Early Business Experience

Ann Karlberg learned about discrimination in the business world from her first boss – her father.   Karlberg, president of Karlberg Tan, was raised in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.  Her family of migrant workers picked cotton every autumn.  Karlberg’s brothers earned as much as 50 cents for picking 100 pounds of cotton, but she earned half that.  “I remember thinking, `If I have 100 pounds and my brothers have 100 pounds, isn’t that the same thing?’” Karlberg recalls, “I’ve experienced very little of that in my adult life,” she adds. 

She wouldn’t have time for it.  Karlberg thinks carefully before answering a question, and then answers like crazy.   Her conversation moves quickly, just like her business.

A New Idea

It was April 1981, and she was traveling in Canada with her then-husband.  He had discovered a tanning bed and knew she’d be interested, since she has great difficulty with outdoor tanning. 

She was hooked immediately.  On the way home from that Toronto trip, Karlberg bought a plane ticket.  Two weeks later, she was at a cosmetics exposition in Germany evaluating tanning systems. 

Upon returning to Illinois, she wasted no time.  She started doing research before she left the airport.  “I had enormous phone bills,” calling from O’Hare to every major American city, in search of the few tanning beds then in use in this country.

At home, she learned that Rockford’s phone book listed eight tanning salons, four of them already closed.  “That wasn’t very encouraging news,” she recalls.  None of the salons offered tanning beds, only stand-up booths.

“I think I understood from the start there was a very marked difference,” says Karlberg.  Her beds not only filter out potentially burning rays but also provide a relaxing experience.  “We wanted to create an experience that people enjoy and long to re-do,” she says.  “For one half-hour, they can leave [their troubles] behind.” 

The Karlberg Difference

She created a soothing environment, rejecting the idea of combining a spa with another business, such as a beauty salon.  She didn’t want patrons to have to deal with the activity and odors associated with a  beauty salon.  The Tanning beds are enclosed in private, softly lit and locked rooms.

Eight months after she saw her first tanning bed, Karlberg opened Karlberg Tan in her garage.  She marketed her idea carefully, since locals weren’t used to bronzed skin in the winter.  Karlberg invited six friends to try the salon.  “Once they got a tan, they were hooked on it,” she says.  

Early Success

Karlberg had planned to start the business at Edgebrook Shopping Center in Rockford, IL, but tanning spas were still new and Edgebrook managers worried about the kind of business she’d be running.  The garage location raised similar concerns.  “I’m sure my neighbors wondered what was going on,” says Karlberg.  By March, two months after she opened, bronzed patrons streamed in and out between 4:30 a.m. and midnight.

In May of 1981 she moved to an eight-room commercial location.  The "garage salon" was so heavily booked that Karlberg couldn’t close to relocate.   The four tanning beds were moved to the new location one per day, scheduling them for one last session before and another immediately after they were transferred.  Karlberg reports that she still sees those early customers today.

Franchising the Karlberg Experience

Some of the customers expressed an interest in running their own tanning business.  Karlberg sold the equipment and concept to several, only to be informed by the state attorney general’s office that she was operating an illegal franchise.  After straightening out the license and registration details, she found herself in the franchise business.  The franchise expanded to 174 units in 15 states and was named 12th most popular franchise by Venture magazine in September 1984.

The business grew too complicated, so Karlberg sold the franchise in 1986, retaining ownership of six salons in Rockford, Milwaukee and Iowa City. 

Ann was listed in the International Who's Who of Intellectuals (1992), Who's Who in Leading American Executives (1991-92), selected "Woman of the Year" by the "American Biographical Institute (1990), Who's Who in the Midwest (1988-89) and is a life member of the Biographical Institute.  Ann was included in the National Registry of Who's Who 2001 Edition.

On the Job Training

Not bad for a woman without a high school diploma.  Karlberg’s father believed girls didn’t need an education, so he pulled her out of school after eighth grade to work full-time on the farm preparing meals and working the fields.  Karlberg was heartbroken, but says, “I feel I’ve earned my degree.”  Much of what she learned as a migrant worker serves her well today. 

When she became an employer, Karlberg realized what it’s like to manage a staff of people, just as her father did when he supervised as many as 12 of his children at a time. 

Although her family was poor, Karlberg says her childhood “was like discovering a whole new world” every time the family moved to another crop and another home.   She disliked the cotton picking, but enjoyed investigating new places.  That’s still true today, as she enjoys traveling worldwide in search of new adventures.

Karlberg’s advice to entrepreneurs:  “Test your ideas on a small scale with some friends first to see if others like your idea.  Have confidence in your own reactions to a concept.

“If you like something, chances are someone else will.  Avoid taking seriously the advice of friends who say you can’t do something.  Don’t take great financial risks until you have tested your idea, and stay away from businesses with a lot of government regulation."

“It worked for me,” says Karlberg, who maintains the American dream is not dead.