Putting the extra into your hard work is what makes you rise to the top. Nothing will be given to you. What is amazing is how many people will come to help you once you have started to help yourself. I have found that staying in motion is the key to advancing my career. This…

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In 1995 there were 14 tattoo shops from O’fallon, Illinois to O’fallon, Missouri. In 1998 there were 40. With each shop averaging 3 artists working in house, that would equal 78 new jobs for tattoo artists in three years. That is almost a 300% increase in the industry. As impressive as those numbers are, where…

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People cancel their appointments. This is a simple fact of business. I do not take offense to a cancelation. Do you want to know why? I love my clients. I love hanging out with them and I put them before myself. If someone needs to cancel I do not penalize them or beat them down…

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My SELFJournal has a few parts to it. There is an opening of the day that includes writing your Itinerary, a Gratitude lList, Targets and daily Goals. Upon closing the day, you write Lessons Learned, Wins and another Gratitude List. The journal has helped me to take a daily inventory of myself and my actions.…

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What we do is not secret. Secrecy has been considered a value in the tattoo culture. It has been such a tradition to guard all of your information that we pretend we are sitting on a wealth of knowledge that only the entitled are privy to. If you know me, I constantly challenge the standards…

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Sometimes I feel so swamped drawing new tattoos for clients that I forget how much I have done. They say if you wanna have self esteem, do something to be esteemed about! I’m posting this as a reminder to lift my head from the grind and appreciate what I do and who I have met.…

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Being successful isn’t out of your reach. I use an app called flip book. It searches the internet for me and brings back topics I’m interested in. Today, the blog I reposted below came across my feed.  I was thinking, “I wish I would have read stuff like this years ago!” Instantly I realized I…

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Sketch Book Pro https://www.sketchbook.com/ This is the starter kit drawing program for the intimidated and computer inept artist. I have shown this program to tattoo artists around the country. Artists that had never drawn digitally took to Sketchbook very quickly. Sketchbook is a stripped down drawing program. It is very intuitive for a traditional artist…

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Entrepreneurs vs. Company Men Henry Ford was an entrepreneur.  The people who worked for him were company men. When loyal company men leave or lose their jobs, they are not trained to be entrepreneurs. Tattoo artists tell themselves that they are self-employed.  They convince themselves that they have control over their careers and can list…

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“When you are in competition with others, you get bitter. When you are in competition with yourself you get better.” Competition is healthy. Like most traits, using competition in the wrong way can be self destructive. Using other’s successes as your barometer isn’t reliable. Sometimes I can get jealous of other people’s success and forget…

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I have a great deal of talented, capable, and brilliant friends, clients, and acquaintances in my life that I truly believe in. Folks that I feel grateful to know closely. People in all varieties of trades/professions; artists, accountants, carpenters, recording engineers, you name it. Some of these people have been instrumental in setting the stage…

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