The very image of Robbie Segler exudes success. If being handsome, well dressed and having a beautiful wife and family weren’t enough, he’s also the founder of the extremely successful Darque Tan salon chain. By all outward appearances, it would seem that Robbie is one of those people who float through life, going from one accomplishment to another without a care. Perhaps this misconception exists because not much is known about the pre-Darque Tan Robbie, until now, that is.

As it turns out, the road to his success had its share of speedbumps – those things that, in retrospect, can be called learning experiences – that have helped him adapt to what life throws at him and come out on top. The story of Robbie’s life is one part American Dream, one part following his dreams and finally, seeing those dreams come true. The best part of his story, though, is that it’s one still in the process of being written.

Growing Up “Down Under”
If Robbie’s accent doesn’t give it away, he is a native Australian. He was born in the “Land Down Under” – Perth, to be exact – in 1960 to Hymie and Annie Segler, the youngest of three boys. Robbie’s mother was a housewife, and his father owned two retail furniture stores in partnership with his grandfather, Sam, giving young Robbie an exposure to the business world very early on. “I suppose I was always business-oriented,” recalled Robbie. “When I was in first grade, I remember purchasing candy then turning around and selling it in pieces to all my friends. My interest in business developed into running my own janitorial service with some friends while I was in high school, and we did quite well cleaning many local area businesses. I also worked with my father in the family business – I started out driving the delivery truck and progressed into all other aspects of furniture and carpet sales.”

Growing up the son and grandson of self-made men proved to be a great life experience for Robbie, as it gave him a strong perspective on what he wanted to do with his life. “I came to the conscious decision that I wanted to be my own boss very early on,” he commented. “I liked the idea of waking up every morning knowing that whatever happened in my professional life would be completely up to me, and I’m thankful to have had good examples of entrepreneurship while I was growing up.” Apparently, those examples were picked up by all of Hymie and Annie’s boys – Robbie’s brother Martin is an attorney and his other brother, Marc, is a pharmacist who owns two pharmacies.

Learning Experiences
By all accounts, it looked like young Robbie would take the fast track to success. At the age of 21, he graduated from university with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and international finance, and was poised to enter the business world, which is exactly what he did. His first job out of university was as an auditor for Coopers and Lybrand, an accounting firm considered one of the “big eight” in Australia at that time. After almost two years with the prestigious company, however, he had a change of heart regarding accounting, largely due to his other hobby – rock ’n roll. “I first started playing the drums when I was 11 years old after my brother bought a set but decided he didn’t like it,” Robbie recalled. “When he got tired of them, I picked them up and really enjoyed it, and kept playing throughout junior and senior high school. I joined a band with a bunch of my high school friends called The Suburban Blitz Band, and we played a lot of parties and bar mitzvahs. I played the hotel and nightclub scene with the band through my college years, often playing four and five nights a week”

During his time at Coopers and Lybrand, Robbie moonlighted in a rock band now called The Appliances. His plan was to trade his button-down, suit-and-tie existence for one of wild, rock ’n roll abandon; but as things turned out, fate had other plans for the erstwhile rock star. “We were getting ready to release a single and go on tour, so I gave my two-week notice at the firm,” he recalled. “At that time, though, another popular Australian band – Mother Goose – had just lost their keyboard player and was looking for a replacement to go on tour to support their No. 1 single. They offered the job to our keyboard player and he took it because it was the kind of offer he couldn’t refuse.”

While Robbie didn’t blame his buddy for taking the gig with Mother Goose, the decision still put an end to The Appliances, leaving Robbie with neither a band nor a job. This stroke of what seemed like bad luck ended up putting him on the path that eventually led to his success with Darque Tan.

Coming to America
At the age of 21, Robbie quit his job as an accountant to pursue his dream of being in a rock ’n roll band. When that option didn’t work out, he had to make a living doing something, so he turned another one of his hobbies – commodities trading – into a career. “Speculative buying and commodities trading was something that I had started doing in college, mainly just for myself; but I learned enough about it to do it as a career,” he said. “I decided to move to Sydney, Australia to take a job as a broker with Central Commodities, and I stayed there for three years.”

One of Robbie’s biggest goals as a commodities trader was to work on the Chicago Board of Trade. Accustomed to fulfilling his dreams, Robbie decided to make this a reality, which meant leaving his homeland of Australia for the frontier of the American financial world. A tall order for a 24-year-old, but Robbie knew that he was ready to give it his best shot. “A friend of a friend had a seat on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, so we decided to lease that space from him, and we probably lasted a whole two and a half months,” he laughed. “I quickly discovered that trading commodities as a career was for people who knew what they were doing! Still, it was a good experience, and I’ll never regret it because it really taught me a lot about choosing the right pond to fish in.”

A Twisting Road
His very short-lived career in commodities over, Robbie was faced with having to find his way in the world. Fortunately, this was not exactly uncharted waters for him – leaving his career as an accountant and the breakup of his rock band had brought him to American soil, after all. “I ended up at a company called Commodity Advisory Corporation of Texas (CACT), which was located in Houston. This company developed the method I used for commodities trading, and they were impressed with my experience with it, so they offered me a position as Director of Marketing.” Two years later, CACT went out of business, once again leaving him to fend for himself.

In 1985, Robbie’s life took a turn from the world of finance and business, which he’d grown accustomed to. “After CACT went out of business, I found myself back in the nightclub business again, but not in the same musical capacity,” Robbie explained. “I worked with a lot less clothing (a.k.a. an exotic dancer) from 1985 to about 1990, working mostly in Houston in addition to touring the U.S. and Canada as a Chippendale.” While some people might not want to admit to this part of their past, Robbie does so with a certain amount of humor. After all, he can’t knock his former career too badly, for it helped him find his life’s two greatest loves – tanning salon ownership and his lovely wife, Vonda.

The two met one night while Robbie was working at the club and it was love at first site, well, at least on his part. “Luckily, I was able to convince her to go out with me, and after two years of dating, we got engaged,” he recalled. Now with a fiancé, Robbie knew that exotic dancing wasn’t the most appropriate career. It was during his search for something to replace it that he discovered indoor tanning.

The Famous “Model”
In the world of indoor tanning salons, Robbie’s business model is quite well known. “At the time when I was deciding to go into business for myself, the electronic funds transfer phenomenon was becoming popular in the southwest,” he explained. “Many gyms were enjoying success with this, and it got me thinking about how a business that charged $12 a month, but still had millions of dollars worth of equipment, could be prosperous. I knew they must have had thousands of members, yet when I was there it was always the same 20 or 30 people working out. I figured that the key to their success was offering the gym membership not for the price people would pay to use it, but for a price people would be willing to pay even if they didn’t use it. That is, the price they could afford to pay not to use it. Offering a membership to a lifestyle choice for a low price makes people not feel as bad about paying for something they know they won’t be able to do every day.”

With Robbie’s business model firmly established as offering a low monthly fee for a lifestyle service, it was up to him to find the perfect business in which to execute it. He had three candidates – a gym, car wash or tanning salon. “There were too many gyms already at the time, so that was out of the question, and I wasn’t interested in operating a car wash, even though I believe that one that utilized EFTs would be successful, so I decided to open a tanning salon,” he said. The price the Seglers settled on was $18.88 a month for unlimited tanning in the salons’ Level 1 beds, which Darque Tan still offers today.

“Like most first-time salon owners, we borrowed money from family and friends to get started, knowing we’d be able to pay them back soon because we believed in our formula.” It turns out, he was right! The chain, which was established in January 1990, is now up to 53 corporate salons in eight markets stretched across five states, and with a few of his friends also joining the program as licensees, there are now nearly 70 Darque Tans in 12 markets across a total of eight states. “As we like to say, ‘From Beverly Hills to Boca Raton, from Boston to Austin, there’s a Darque Tan near you,’” he laughed.

Today, Robbie is certainly proud of Darque Tan, as many salon pros who frequent the indoor tanning Internet discussion boards are aware. There, Robbie often engages in lengthy discussions, and sometimes debates, regarding many industry related issues. But as important as Darque Tan is to him, it’s only the means to enjoy what is most precious – his family – wife Vonda, and children Victoria, 14, Tristin, 12, and Roark, 7. “My friends have often described my family life as a fairy tale, but I just like to think that I’m extremely fortunate to have a family of individuals who are healthy, smart and have wonderful personalities,” Robbie commented. “We’re also very fortunate to have had the business success that we do, because it affords us the opportunity to spend a lot of time together. One of our favorite pastimes is traveling, which we do at least three to four times a year.”

More Than Tanning
Robbie credits much of his success to the importance he places on education and having a rational philosophy. In this realm, he places philosopher/novelist Ayn Rand at the top of his list. His passion for her work motivated Darque Tan’s involvement in the Ayn Rand Institute’s annual book project, when his company donates 5,000 books to public high schools wanting to teach her work. Robbie’s passion for education burns even brighter for his children; so much so, that he and Vonda founded the Academy of Classical Education (A.C.E.) in 1999. Housed in the building of an old Montessori school, the 7,000 square-foot private school stresses a classical curriculum integrating English, History, Science and Math in a chronological fashion. “A person’s quality of life is directly proportionate to their education. Vonda and I want our children to have the best lives possible, and so they must have the best educational opportunities,” he commented. “We were appalled with the curriculums being offered at all of the public and private schools in our area, so we decided to start a school that focuses on an academically rigorous education, and we’re very happy we did. Our children, and many others, are getting an amazing education that will prepare them for college and life. Our entire school averages in the ninetieth percentile nationally. Our kids are miles ahead of their peers and that edge will transform their lives.”

The Segler’s future plans also include the continued growth of Darque Tan. Just how big? “A thousand salons wouldn’t be too many,” says Robbie. “We really love the process of growing the business, and we’ll continue to do it just as long as we’re having fun. The bigger we get the more fun we have, so for us there is no end in sight. We’ll continue to live large, dream big and love every minute of it.”