Me too. I'm Gabe from TattooNOW, pleased to meet you.
Helping tattooers leave the longest lasting positive impact possible keeps me up late. SInce the 90's I've done this by helping artists, studio owners, managers, and other professionals to visualize, maximize, and fufill their potential. This means helping with tech, business, and professional development.
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This also means connecting collectors with world-class tattooers.
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Setting audacious goals, even ones that may seem impossible, is crucial for personal growth. It's essential to think big initially and then scale down to achieve those goals effectively. But by envisioning big goals, you can instill the necessary motivation and determination to progress.
So let’s talk about one tactic you can use to “scale down” and make attainable steps to reach those big, seemingly crazy goals, DEADLINES! Deadlines are crucial for completing tasks and achieving set goals. Having specific timeframes helps by providing structure and motivation. Oftentimes failing to adhere to deadlines often leads to delayed or unfinished work or progress, hindering progress and possibly disappointing other people that are working around you.
As an example, turning in work on time during a paid class. I like to use this because it uses two frames of accountability, time and money. If you’re held tight to a deadline and your projects are submitted within that time frame, it allows for receiving valuable feedback from instructors. If you do the work but miss the submission time then you lose out on any serious insight that could have been gained, and the class moves on without you. Now what? You’ve lost an opportunity for serious growth and then that feels like a waste of time and resources.
Designing a compelling future involves setting ambitious goals that drive one's actions. Many tattoo artists miss out on intentionally creating a vision for their future career growth. By focusing on innovative ideas within the artistic realm, one can feed creativity, passion, and values.
Further Into the discussion it revolves around long-term goals in tattooing, focusing on achieving a balance between projects and individual pieces. The aim is to secure a consistent flow of larger projects, like sleeves and leg pieces, to stabilize booking schedules and finances. An adaptation of the 80/20 principle, termed "Top 20 & Farm club," emphasizes identifying ideal clients and tailoring services to attract similar ones, reducing the need for numerous smaller projects.
This involves pinpointing characteristics of ideal clients and replicating them to attract similar individuals. By serving a select group of top clients well and targeting a broader audience with similar traits, artists can streamline their workload and focus on fewer, more substantial projects. This strategy aligns with the concept of pursuing "moonshot" goals, aiming for significant leaps in revenue by optimizing core strengths rather than incremental improvements.
Transitioning from a high volume of smaller tattoos to fewer, higher-paying projects requires strategic adjustments and a shift in mindset. Instead of discounting services or pursuing numerous clients, the focus shifts to providing exceptional service to a select clientele and leveraging similarities to attract similar patrons. This shift not only streamlines the workload but also fosters a more sustainable and financially rewarding tattooing career in the long run.
I wanted to touch on a couple of key points in the conversation that I think a lot of artists struggle with in tattooing. Sometimes if you're just running the show alone it can be daunting and it feels like you're spinning your wheels making progress. Having other artists or entrepreneurs around to talk with and bounce ideas off of can oftentimes boost your morale and allow new ideas and possibilities to flourish.
These are just a few of those kinds of ideas.
There are occasions in an artist's career where resources and money can be tight. Maybe it’s “slow season” or you’ve moved to a different area where you have to make new clientele, medical reasons, and the list goes on. These things can often lead to panic and rash, short-term thinking.
Let’s take the idea of discounting your tattoos to wrangle new clients.
One reason you might do this would be to make a quick cash grab because people see that you’re doing the same work but for cheaper. This can give you some quick cash but it diminishes the quality of clients because there’s a high chance they’ll only return if you discount again. I mean why would anyone want to spend top dollar when there’s a chance to get it cheaper if they just wait.
Another reason you might discount would be to try something new in your designs or switching to an uncomfortable style, like going from illustrative to realism. You might want to discount something like this in the beginning because this lowers the risk for the clients while building your portfolio with work that you’re trying to move into. The when you feel more comfortable you have clientele that trusts you and a potential for a higher rate to go along with your new skillset.
Making decisions solely based on immediate needs can lead to challenges in planning for the long term, creating a disconnect between short-term solutions and future aspirations. The struggle arises when short-term solutions, like offering discounts, result in unintended consequences that impact relationships with clients and overall business stability.