I'm Getting Sick Of The Business of Tattooing

[Deb Yarian]

I'm getting really sick of the "business" of tattooing:(

[ShawnPorter]

I'm sure all the business end of things makes it not as fun.

I've been considering going to culinary school... but I think I love cooking too much to make it my business.

[dari]

I was recently offered a partnership in a new yoga studio and turned it down. I know that the business side of it would ruin it for me. I'm sorry, Deb, I know it can't be getting any easier with a new shop opening up on you.

[Deb Yarian]

No, my point was missed.

It is not literally the business end of my tattoo shop that I'm sick of-- the purchasing of supplies and paying of rent.

I meant " everything that tattooing has become that has nothing to with what I love to do"!

[Perez]

Yup. The "industry"

[Jaycel Adkins]

I'm sure all the business end of things makes it not as fun.

I've been considering going to culinary school... but I think I love cooking too much to make it my business.

"Business" can be fun, particularly if you wind up succeeding, but there is a way to make it something more.

Don't go to culinary school.

[shaneenholm]

well deb..I get it..since we have alot of mutual friends and that seems to be the subject amoung us as of late. I just dissappear for awhile...( I did it for the entire decade of the 90s well part of the late 80s too but some of that was beyond my control.so to speak)then I kinda step out and see whats going on...I am at the point where i feel like stepping off again,well i kinda have and i know it left some people puzzled but I (hopefully) got that straightened out.

There,I guess was always politics in this just not so mainstream...but now more than ever that end is heart breakingly sad...Jack Rudy had an idea one time of starting "the tattoo tattler" a gossip column dedicated to the politics and whispers thereof...I only wish I had thought that up first.

You know the thing is after many years basically all you know besides a few people have something to do with tattooing.And once upon a time it was harder to have those that were not in this relate to you..but it is so mainstream now that it does not matter as much anymore.I mean the whole world tattoos now...I miss the smell of angel dust in the shop...(not that I ever liked that shit)but just the fact that it was a possibility....etc..etc...

I think you just have the blues..the regular old blues..what do you have 30 plus years in now....We need you more than ever...so dont sell your inversion table just yet...did you feel this way before you went to jax bch or after your return...? just wonderin...you got a great spot to lay low...so hang in there...just know you are not alone with those feelings....

you do not need me to tell ya this but remember that is not water some of these people think they are walkin on..after all it aint like we are transplant surgeons..we just put colored scabs on people...then it becomes kinda funny...from the sidelines anyway....hope you feel better

[Raskolnikov]

I personally think it is all about perspective. Artists are exchanging their labour and creative abilities for something of equal value - usually cash. Obviously this has spiralled into a load of extraneous stuff that has little bearing on an individuals desire to ink their body, but as long as it is seen as just an exchange between two people, then none of the other bullshit should matter.

[JAllen]

i don't think of the "business" very much since i've always formed my opinions based on the individuals that i choose to interact with in that regard. to me it's the same as: i know that nike makes shoes and that they might be popular but i still choose to by the same style of vans that i've worn since i started skating in the 80's. i like getting to determine what i allow to participate in my daily life and i should mention that knowing that there are good folks like you (deb) and don out there setting a good example of hard working family oriented tattooers that none of the actual "business" matters to me. oh and the same goes for you to shane! that reminds me that i was supposed to put together some more music to send you. t

[KeithReed]

Sorry to say but I'm getting sick of tattooers complaining about it. When you love something, concentrate on that and let the other BS fall where it may. We far too often look to the negative aspects of tattooing and lose sight of our love and passion. We have the single greatest career that I can think of. I love tattooing and I refuse to let the negative aspects of it get me down.

[slayer9019]

That is a sad thing to hear. I found that I started hating what I do simply because it is a job now, my sister says the same as her art is a business. If you do think about it though would you be happier doing anything else? I know I would never be as happy doing anything else, than what I do now even though the "business" has corrupted my view of my work.

[Deb Yarian]

I love tattoos and I love tattooing and I've chosen to vent on a forum of my peers!

[yhabaduky]

Im VERY sick of it as a second generation tattooer. The TV producers have screwed it right in the p****. I've seen it go from well paying to cut-throating by abuncha people that started tattooing in 2005 or after. Funniest thing is, the egos of the new people has gotten even WORSE despite their pay...... which used to be semi respectable. I can barely stand to be in the same room with you people

[s33ktruth]

Im VERY sick of it as a second generation tattooer. The TV producers have screwed it right in the p****. I've seen it go from well paying to cut-throating by abuncha people that started tattooing in 2005 or after. Funniest thing is, the egos of the new people has gotten even WORSE despite their pay...... which used to be semi respectable. I can barely stand to be in the same room with you people

Troll alert.

[Raskolnikov]

Troll alert.

I was very impressed that people couldn't be bothered to reply to obvious trolling. Congrats.

[Stitch626]

That's almost exactly the reason I'm happy I never got my apprenticeship, I began to realize that with all the frustration I'd be happier to just draw them for my friends every once in a while then to slowly begin to hate what I love to do, that allows me a moment to relax, therefore sticking to a job I love that allows me to take out my frustration with "clients" via stupid little things.. :)