Whoa!!! I forgot I had a career!!!

With the pressure of infertility treatments is now off my chest, I have been able to focus more soundly on work and it has been awesome.  I have felt OK about purchasing new equipment for work because I'm not worried about "what if we need this money for meds." A tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and in all honesty, I've been more excited for my appointments and have had more confidence in my work.

Tattooing is such a bazaar profession.  I'm at a stage in my tattoo career where it definitely feels like more of a career fueled by passion and not money.  I have my feircely loyal clients, but not enough to really keep me afloat at this stage.

I feel like you truly need to earn your way into this profession.  You need to prove your passion and work hard to keep improving.  I have so much to learn still.  You don't get to just throw yourself into the business and expect to be successful without firsrt proving yourself.  And it gets rough.  You pour hours upon hours into a $200 design and in my case, give 50% to the shop, you walk away with $100 and whatever tip your client may have offered.  But I think what is important at this stage in my career isn't the money.  It's that I walk away with a happy client who will refer their peeps to me.  And eventually, years down the road,  I will hopefully have enough clients to be comfortable!

I don't think people really realize how much work goes into being a tattoo artist.  The sacrifices and the time put in that no one even knows about!  I should specify, the time and sacrifices that GOOD and committed tattoo artists put in.  Any old shmoe can pick up a tattoo machine and trace something they print off the internet.  But to truly devote yourself to your clients and their art they are going to have permanently put onto their bodies, that is who I am talking about.

I took a whole year, left my hubby, my house, and my friends, drove 200+ miles to Missoula every week to complete an apprenticeship with an established tattoo artist that I deeply respect.  All this while not earning money for a while until I was skilled enough to bring in a little bit.  This is because I care for and respect the profession!

People casually tell me how easy I have it with my career.  And a lot of time attribute my success in other things (I.e. my fitness success) to my career choice that doesn't "take up much time." That is so far from the truth.  I'm pretty sure people think that I take 20 minutes to draw up a tattoo (thanks to dumb tattoo shows on TV) and then put in a couple hours tattooing and then earn $500 for 3.5 hours of work.  So not how it works.  I meet with my clients for the consult so I can figure out what exactly they are looking for.  Then I go home and research, print out pages upon pages of references, then draw, redraw, and rework, and rework again until I have come up with something totally custom for a particular client.

I will not argue that I do have the benefit of shaping my own schedule for the week.  But guess what.  That time I made for working out, or that time I took to go out to lunch with a friend when I could have been drawing, I now have to do my drawing later at night.  It doesn't just magically get done.  Same with my paintings.  I make time for the priorities in my life but that doesn't make my other stuff just disappear!  I suppose I should take it as a complement that people think I have it easy.  That means I make it look easy!!!!

Bottom line is, I am willing to put in the time I need to build this career.  I am happy to have infertility in the background of my life so I can devote more time into improving my tattooing skills.  I will somehow balance it all out after baby comes.  Being a mom, wife and friend, tattooing, working out, painting...because those are the things that matter to me the most!