Ep. 219 "The Sincerest Form of Flattery" (A personal Diary Entry)

[00:00:00] Well hello diary listeners! Happy July! It's now July 1st. I'm recording this on a Monday, so I'm getting a little bit of an edge on this week's episode, which I am calling the Sincerest Form of Flattery. Welcome to The Apprenticeship Diaries where raw meats refined.

[00:00:24] Let's be real, we're still working on refining. What it took, what it takes and the stories that are made. Join us as we learn from professionals about how their stories begin. Okay listeners, I hope that you guys enjoyed that replay last week from Spireside Tattoo Network

[00:00:54] and Derrick Youngberg announcing with Jake Meeks and me the scholarship that we're going to have at Paradise Tattoo Gathering The growth of that venture, I think from what I understand again from Derrick is that it's going into a full on non-profit.

[00:01:12] They really want to provide a space where people can contribute to tattoo education for many events and many possibilities that have education at the forefront of all of this and offer up opportunities for the next generation of tattoo artists.

[00:01:32] So that's really freaking cool and I hope everybody enjoyed it. The motivation of this podcast, I guess, is that I noticed something. I was actually tipped off to something by a listener that has been listening to the show for a very long time

[00:01:58] and who I knew before she was a tattoo artist. I'm not going to name her name but I was tipped off to the fact that Painful Pleasures actually has a new segment out of their, I guess, they have a new segment out.

[00:02:26] I don't even know what you call it. They're a distributing house and a product company that makes products now. But they have a new segment where they do interviews with tattoo professionals and they've called it the Apprentice Diaries. Now, I didn't know about this.

[00:02:51] I was very honored to have had a long-time listener of the show tell me about this and let me know about it. And I have to admit to you listeners that my first reaction was just not thrilled.

[00:03:09] You know, I was kind of like, wow man, they totally snaked my idea. And it's odd because I feel like I kind of have drawn this to me a little bit.

[00:03:25] I've kind of waited in certain spaces to be copied and I always expected it would be in my art, but it never has, at least that I can tell. A lot of people have always influenced me, but nobody's ever copied my art

[00:03:44] and I guess it's just because with tattooing, the work that I do for the most part with my clients is so unique and individual to them and their personal brand that if anybody were to mimic that, it would be so obvious.

[00:04:00] And it's so personal and so unique typically that it doesn't often happen. I think I've only seen it like one time with something that was like, how could you... I mean, it was with a very traditional, not traditional, that's the wrong word.

[00:04:21] A classic themed America tribute tattoo with like an eagle and an American flag. I saw another artist who I'm fairly confident used my tattoo as a reference for her piece,

[00:04:39] but I mean how many different ways can you actually skin a cat when it comes to that subject matter? If the person wants an American bald eagle and an American flag.

[00:04:52] There's only so many ways you can do it and if they're adamant that they want it done as the tattoo that they see then you can only do so much with that. So I feel like that's a pass.

[00:05:07] And I also think that because the show doesn't fully concentrate on tattooing as its repertoire of apprenticeship journeys but it highlights... I mean by no means have I cornered the market on this. The only thing I can say is that I just...

[00:05:40] Here's what I want to deliver to everybody in terms of this happening. One, I can only hope that this has very sincere motivations to grow and strengthen the tattoo industry. Well, community. Community. Because industry is what I think it's about.

[00:06:07] And I only think that because of where it's coming from and I have had quite the experience in my life going back to the hair industry which if anybody knows is one of the most regulated professions and it's like aside from prostitution it's the oldest.

[00:06:40] So it's had a lot of time to get this far and this fettered. And so I'm leery when it comes to this topic which is why I made it a passion of mine to talk to people about their starts,

[00:06:57] and I think that's one of the things obviously from day one I've had a multitude of concerns or thoughts. You know, whether it be from my own experience or somebody else's. The idea of formal education in this industry, the idea of apprenticeship,

[00:07:17] what should the look be and how should we handle this. And there's been many iterations that I have gone through with this. In the beginning of my life as a tattoo artist I was really like,

[00:07:33] whoa man you know, I can't believe that this isn't something that's being taught. You know I can't believe this isn't being opened up to more people and you know, and I'm sorry I just got a text message one moment. Be right back.

[00:07:57] So I apologize for that brief moment. I get text messages on my phone and then it goes to my computer and then you guys can hear the ding so I really apologize for that. It might happen again. I just messaged somebody very quickly before I started recording.

[00:08:21] So I do apologize if there's intermittent bings. I don't know how I can control that here in recording. I guess I could just turn off all notifications on my text messaging I guess. But anyway, in the beginning of all of this I thought wow why don't we teach,

[00:08:50] why don't we have schools you know like this seems silly but I you know like everything in tattooing. I thought you know like I didn't know anything that's the thing is that when you're on the outside looking in

[00:09:07] you think wow you know why isn't this happening and this happening and this happening. And to his credit my former boss John gave me a lot of insight. He's like well you know it's kind of cool that it is the way that it is because it's not

[00:09:25] you know you don't have the state making all of these regulations and all these demands of people like me who own studios and who have to you know basically comply with whatever regulations that they require a studio to have in order to be operational.

[00:09:45] And he's like once that happens they can get really crazy. He's like they could make a certain kind of paint that you have to have on the wall

[00:09:52] and antibacterial or some shit and he's like they could they could they could say that every room needs to have a sink in it but that doesn't make any sense either because you're not you're not supposed to dump pigment down a sink

[00:10:03] and you're not supposed to you're not supposed to you know use tap water necessarily though it's not it's not awful if you do most people prefer distilled or some kind of filtered water

[00:10:18] that someone uses if you know you're doing things that are on the body distilled being preferable. But like I in my head it was like you know oh well you know like I guess but it just limited so much of the access

[00:10:37] but now I see why that was very purposeful because I think what I do think what John broke down was that you know it keeps it in the hands of the practitioners which in one way is good

[00:10:52] because the people who actually are doing the tattooing are the ones who are kind of controlling who gets into it and who gains access but on the other hand there was a lot of abuse there

[00:11:05] and there was a lot of you know just regulations that went way south which in this industry I do think that it's very likely that that can happen which is why we've heard on this podcast anyway a lot of

[00:11:23] a lot of interesting stories especially coming out of the tattoo world in terms of their apprenticeships because it's just all over the place you know and it can go anything to like you know self-teaching

[00:11:35] very very brutal like hands off very abusive to like very framed very structured very clean very responsible so you know you got that gauntlet of experience but what you also got was

[00:11:57] very passionate players and people who if they had a mind and they had a will they could find a way and it didn't require a lot of money to do it either and like my boss said it was something that where

[00:12:15] you know there wasn't there wasn't anything telling you how you had to perform and you know if you guys like go to any tattoo conventions which I hope you do if you're interested in this

[00:12:30] you know this field at all I would assume that if you're here you're either a client of mine or you're interested in tattooing or you are a tattoo artist or you know you have had an apprenticeship

[00:12:42] of some kind that you know makes you wonder you know how other apprenticeships are but you know it's much like most industries in a lot of ways when it comes down to the business of it

[00:12:53] and those who can pay can play and you know so what I want to say here without insinuating anything is that people who love this profession need to keep the love alive and need to fight for it

[00:13:23] and need to make sure that it stays in the right hands because if it doesn't stay in the right hands we'll lose it we'll lose it and we'll lose it to people who are not who don't really care about tattooing

[00:13:41] they you know they don't they don't care maybe I shouldn't say that I think I think it's a hard one because I think in the beginning there's lots of caring I think that regulation often starts that way

[00:14:10] and there's a lot of very concerned hearts that go into it I mean it has to be in order for it to gain momentum and it has to get by in power by a lot of practitioners who you know feel like this is the only way

[00:14:28] and that you know if it's going to happen that they'd rather be involved I mean that was my position at 1.2 was like well this is gonna happen anyway I might as well get on board and at least be a part of something

[00:14:41] that I know I can affect my view now is more I guess measured it's I'm trying really hard to not have so much ego about myself and I'm a very you know self-involved person

[00:15:13] I can tell you guys that and be very honest about it you know I have been most of my life and I do know things I do know things but I don't I don't know everything and I don't claim to know everything

[00:15:29] which is why I did formulate the show the way I did was for a few reasons to hopefully hopefully like other tattoo artists and connect with other tattoo artists that I had a similar mindset with

[00:15:45] and a rapport and I know that through learning people's stories that you can love them a little bit better you can understand them a little bit better and you can you can decide a lot of things about whether or not that's

[00:15:59] you know your crowd and so I thought it was a good platform for that and anybody can talk about their learning education you know story and so I felt like it was a kind of universally open space for anybody to really

[00:16:17] do you know express and I didn't have to be an authority on anything I just had to host the show and I had to keep growing the show and wanting to move it forward and make it integral which is why I didn't

[00:16:36] I haven't done a lot of things that are about buying ad space and things like that and and really trying to maximize the algorithms and things there's certain things that I just and I might be doing myself a disservice

[00:16:57] honestly like paying for ad space might be something to play with and see but as far as like a you know like all the bells and whistles you know having to do things that are big and boomdastic and full of bright colors

[00:17:16] and just bam bam bam into a time frame schedule and very like polished and all this I mean I just didn't think that that was the kind of thing that would attract the kind of the kind of will that I wanted

[00:17:39] the kind of passion that I felt like is required of a really good apprenticeship prospect you know because you have to work man you gotta hustle and the one thing I know that happens once you formalize education is that

[00:18:02] there's lots of room for you to get away with you know not exceeding very well and then you get a piece of paper by the end of it nobody knows how you actually scored on anything nobody even knows half the time what was required

[00:18:19] of you in order to get the piece of paper the reason why I bring this up is because I've said it on the show before that what happens is when regulation is being formulated it very rarely comes from the people who do the job themselves

[00:18:48] it might be backed by those people and framed by those people because they see a lot of crap happening in their industry that they don't feel solely able to affect change and they want change and they want it from a very integral place because they care about people

[00:19:10] they care about their industry they care about doing the right thing they care about proper education and they value those things the issue is that very rarely are those the people who you know keep up with the kind of bureaucracy that is required to

[00:19:34] manage and maintain regulation and then it scales into a bunch of nonsense that really isn't about all of the integral things that the person wanted wanted in the beginning it just all it does is limit access which I guess maybe for some tattoo artists that's their aim

[00:20:00] they're like oh we need less people in this business we need less people in this business you know personally I think that we are where we are right now as a tattoo artist because of inflation

[00:20:16] you know I think a lot of people think that we are right now because we're just so over saturated and like everybody's tattooing we're all doing everybody else's stuff and there's not enough uniqueness I mean there maybe maybe but that's easily changed

[00:20:34] and that's easily guided if that's the case all you have to do is if you're really an artist then just start making art and putting it out there and selling your art and selling your ideas and I promise you that if you just buckle down

[00:20:50] and make art people will get it in my experience if I make art and I make it look good and I put it out there and say

[00:20:59] hey I want to do this people come and they get it they might not get all of it but they come and get it like you know you're not

[00:21:06] and then you know if they don't get it you've already made the artwork and so then you can use that to do other things with it

[00:21:12] you don't have to necessarily tattoo it so you know that's kind of the industry of being an artist is that you know whatever doesn't get tattooed you can easily put on a t-shirt or some other little commodity thing that you want to put out in the world

[00:21:27] and utilize it in a certain way I mean that's possible come on so you know I don't accept that I think it's inflation I think it was how we played COVID how we let you know

[00:21:47] how we let our our leaders shut us down and tell us how to live and tell us what we did and and make everybody really scared of everything and and now you know I mean what happened after COVID is everybody was super busy

[00:22:13] and I guess I should have capitalized on it but I couldn't I've said that on the show I couldn't I just felt like everybody had experienced a death a morning of some kind and

[00:22:24] and they needed to go through the stages of grief and everybody was very reactionary after COVID and everybody had money that either had been a stimulus kind of thing or just you know they were they were working

[00:22:41] or just they were being you know reactionary like a lot of people were being reactionary and wanting to get in wanting to get tattooed and wanting to comment and

[00:22:51] and I saw it and I was like I can't like I can't indulge this so I only tattooed the people that I and that I already had relationships with and projects with and yeah so now

[00:23:11] the wells driving up a bit this is a feast in famine industry folks like you're going to get into being an entrepreneur then you have to save for any day you have to have a fortitude about you that the money will come again

[00:23:26] you know it might seem scrappy now but there's always room to like turn up the heat and maximize your output and do more you know like it's all kind of about what you can do and now I know that at least for me

[00:23:48] that I don't I really don't want a lot of people in in what I do I don't want a lot of a lot of hands in the pot which is why in some ways you know my heart has been wandering to other spaces

[00:24:07] like calligraphy and learning about the Bible and getting a spiritual connection going and growing in in relationships with my family and you know just and carving and things that I've shared here that have been haphazard and kind of you know exploratory at this this point

[00:24:30] the other thing has been social media play and marketing things I'm volunteering to do some background work to help social media market and I found that really fun shout out to the app cap cap cut I do have premier pro but I'm really loving cap cut

[00:24:51] and I'm in you know like I'm enjoying it like it's been really fun I'm sure premier pro has a lot to offer too video editing has been super fun so I'm kind of dabbling in a bunch of spaces and trying to diversify my knowledge

[00:25:07] and dip my toes in a lot of things and play with things I'm always late to the game in a lot of a lot of ways but you know I'm trying to play with those things and experiment and see what works

[00:25:24] and see what doesn't and see what's fun for me you know that's a big thing that I recommend to people when they're kind of sitting around they don't know what's next it's like well what do you enjoy you know what do you love

[00:25:38] what could you do no matter what and you know I don't understand people who don't have at least a handful of those things that they can call upon I know I have them and so I'm exploring all of those things but yeah I think that

[00:26:03] I think that people are understanding where we're at as a country and economically and those things are becoming a lot more pressing now and they're not going to get better and so I see that and I also see how you know certain companies were considered essential

[00:26:31] and other people weren't and the people who weren't were small businesses and independent contractors that were in like these jobs that people thought you know we don't need like hairstylists for example even though these are licensed professionals even though these are regulated professions

[00:26:52] and so I didn't see that any of this regulation really mattered when it came down to for instance a health scare crisis even though a practitioner who is licensed has far more knowledge about how to protect the public than say the kid working at Burger King

[00:27:14] and probably far more oversight and care about what they're doing because they understand the ramifications of what they're doing and they want to do a good job because they're drawn to it from a very integral place so getting back to being mimicked

[00:27:34] I don't think that I've cornered the market on anything I hope I hope that this the aim of this is to just widen the amount of conversation around this I think that that's good there should be lots of conversations around this and I think everybody's

[00:27:58] everybody's story is good to have out there and I do I was always told by my mother that mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery and I do think that's true too because when I sit back and I think about my feelings about painful pleasures new segment

[00:28:22] you know obviously in the beginning I felt like wow man really I don't even want to voice it because it was naturally upsetting in many ways and cutting to me because here I am I've been doing this for five years and could have easily reached out to me

[00:28:46] and implored me and utilized what I'm already doing and asked me but no no no so they went ahead and did their own thing and they pretty much are doing the same thing that I framed five years ago even use the word raw in their advertisement

[00:29:06] which I was like oh my god because mine is raw to refined right and it's been that way for a long time but then I thought you know it's cool man it's cool and I'm gonna let them do their thing and I'm gonna let them

[00:29:28] take it as far I mean let them I'm just gonna let them do it let them they're gonna do it and they got the players and they got the power they got the manpower and they got the boom bassicness and they've got all this stuff going on

[00:29:54] I'm just gonna pray that this all has a reason and I'm going to sit here and think how lovely it is that I actually had an idea that was really good five years ago enough good enough to be mimicked hello diary listeners sorry for this interruption

[00:30:23] but I had to do a brief promotional recording advertisement advertisement as you would say in the US about paradise paradise tattoo gathering I am eating this event in shouting it out I'd love to meet some of you in paradise and get to give you a hug

[00:30:47] for all of the awesome interactions and the gratitude I have for your listening time in order to do this and to attend just on its base level we're gonna be meeting in western Massachusetts at jiminy peak mountain resort it's an awesome awesome venue

[00:31:05] and what's great about it is is that you are kind of trapped on a mountain with all of these truly dope artists and there's only so many places that we can go so you're bound to run into people that you probably only dreamed about meeting

[00:31:21] and on top of that these artists are going to be doing amazing seminars I'm gonna be giving away a seminar on how to be an awesome apprenticeship prospect so that's gonna be my freebie that I offer, I'm also gonna be tattooing this year so whatever

[00:31:39] whatever way you're coming at this you're gonna go to www.tattoogathering.com to get your artist weekend pass if you get it now they're giving away an early bird sweatshirt with it which they're pretty dope I have to say that what I like about

[00:31:59] the sweatshirt is they're not black it's not a black hoodie whenever you go to tattoo conventions it's just a sea of black hoodies and it's just, I mean you know I guess you can find the tattoo convention but here we're gonna be on a mountain and

[00:32:15] it's gonna be hard to avoid the tattoo convention because it's just gonna be there and that's all that's gonna be there for the most part they do have at this time of year October 27th to, or 27th 24th to the 27th pardon me they do have a

[00:32:33] Halloween haunted house kind of thing that they set up so that's pretty cool but apart from that it's off season it's beautiful, the leaves are shining it's just a wonderful nature spot for anybody who's interested and there's a there's all level of things happening

[00:32:51] if you would like to tattoo again go to www.tattoogathering.com fill out your booth application it's such a great convention to kind of work because it's intimate it's, I mean no it's not as busy as those normal tattoo conventions and yeah

[00:33:17] you can get all manner of things if you go to that webpage find out about Paradise just know that I will be very happy to meet you in Paradise as this is an event that I try to make every time it happens alright listeners, back to our podcast

[00:33:35] and you know it is an exact mimicry it's pretty freaking exact but it does center around tattooing and tattoo art specifically my only thing is that you know I don't like I said I don't want to I don't want to make any assumptions and I don't want to

[00:33:57] claim anything but often times I think that you really have to follow the motivations of these things and you have to be realistic with yourself about why people are doing things, what are they in this for, what are their reasons for doing what they're doing

[00:34:22] where does that lead to ultimately and what might they be getting out of it because that's how you know whether or not in my eyes it's an integral or good action as if are you doing this because it needs to be done and

[00:34:38] you know you're really taking a leap and sacrificing quite a bit in order to do it you know because you really care about the greater plan or is there a reason that's very personally affirming and beneficial I mean like let's be real everybody has has some personal

[00:35:04] take home I mean this has been very refreshing for me every single you know week for the most part over five years to submit something for you all to listen to I mean it's like I've said it many times it's like the only

[00:35:18] diary entry that I've been able to do consistently and think I can do consistently and it makes me super happy that I have that about me so that's happy happiness and I've been welcome into certain spaces because of you know just having a podcast or

[00:35:38] you know just being a tattoo artist you know having a podcast that has a lot of tattoo focus on it and just those kind of things it's afforded me some really cool opportunities that I am not at all ungrateful for and it still will it still will

[00:35:58] and um you know I'm doing my thing and they're going to do their thing and I really wanted to talk about that because I um when it's happening and I because I was tipped off by an avid listener that it was happening

[00:36:19] I know that my listeners are going to want to know my take on it and uh you know I'm not as big as them but that's my take I'm gonna just pray about it and I'm gonna see what happens um what I can tell you is that

[00:36:41] um product companies in the hair industry were the main ones that moved to regulate and to put their money into uh regulation schools and all that stuff and that that all gets intertwined eventually and then once you have formal rules in it like I said it starts out

[00:37:11] fairly strong in the beginning it does but then as it goes on there's less and less oversight and there's more and more money funneling through and you know education is a business just like any other so if you're not if you're not um then

[00:37:39] then you're not gonna be able to keep offering the kind of education that that you would like to um and that you feel good about and you know like that's the thing right like it's either the quality has to stay really really high and you have to really

[00:37:59] make sure that it's Ivy League status man and that that's what people are paying for or it's a numbers game and you gotta get as many people in those uh those seats as possible you know buying from you and uh yeah in my experience you know

[00:38:21] quality is something that often falls to the wayside and my father used to say and by the way um just as a personal drop in here today my dad went under the knife he's getting neck surgery he's getting two discs fused in his neck

[00:38:39] and then a replacement of a um I believe a disc so that he can have some mobility and not a total fusion um he is out of surgery and doing well and recovering so that's all great just to let everybody know but um the man I'm about

[00:38:59] to speak about you know he had to go under the knife today and so my prayers have been with him and my family has had things going on in the background um but he said to me once uh and to his clients once you know

[00:39:17] there was some clients that were kind of upset that um his prices went up at his hair salon and he said well you know um yeah I might I might lose people but I try to make sure that as my prices go up

[00:39:33] so does the quality of the service and if I lose people due to the fact that you know they can't afford it anymore um he's like you know that's kind of he's like it's sad but it's kind of the best way to move

[00:39:53] because he's like I know I haven't dropped my service I haven't dropped the quality of the service it might be that somebody is not able to afford that anymore that's fine that's why there's different levels of you know of people out there of service you know you can

[00:40:13] walk in same day get a haircut at certain places but you know at the level that we were at it was an appointment only shop for the most part you couldn't get in unless you had an appointment and it was a fully staffed salon

[00:40:25] where there was many different arms of it we had front end staff we had we had shampoo texts we had apprentices that were paid we had um you know working professionals that were doing their books all day you know going through their clients and the the education

[00:40:45] that was given to me at least in my dad's it was phenomenal there was always a new color system that we were learning or technique or um hair treatment we were going to conventions I even went to when I was part of the front end staff

[00:41:03] he took me to or sent me away to a seminar on how to be a better front end person so the level of education was high for the people that worked at my dad's salon so when you paid what you paid at my dad's salon

[00:41:21] he was paying for a high quality thing and the people who went there knew it and it basically my dad was like saying if I can't service everybody who wants to get in my chair he's like that sucks for me but

[00:41:41] it does mean that I'm offering a stellar service there's only so much I can do in a day there's only so much my staff can do in a day but as long as the service doesn't drop and the quality doesn't drop you know it's fine to charge more

[00:41:57] because we hope to provide more and we want to keep providing more now whether or not you're able to afford it that's on you that's your choice but that was the way it was always framed to me in business is that you you keep upping

[00:42:13] you know if you charge more values there or at the very least you understand what the value is and you keep raising your price until the market can't substantiate it anymore what I've seen also happening to and this is another thing is that because of the amount

[00:42:33] of printing that went on of our money in order to get through COVID and people not working and the amount of suppression of interest rates etc etc and so on everything cost wise has gone up including supply so what I've seen is that a lot of people

[00:42:55] have upped their prices in tattooing drastically and I think at this point in a lot of ways whilst whilst it might be necessary in order for that tattoo artist to stay afloat in terms of what they were doing before and how they were able to pay their bills

[00:43:21] and live their life tattoos are an extra in life and if they get too expensive and you're not competitive enough to keep up with the market then yeah you're going to have to lower your prices you're going to have to work deals

[00:43:45] you're going to have to get savvy which is either a calling to cut competition or a calling to elevate yourself and keep learning and keep growing and so that's my determination folks I'm going to keep learning and I'm going to keep growing

[00:44:09] and I'm going to keep doing me and keep doing this show as I feel integral I don't really want to compete with anybody I understand that's crazy because you know what is the podcast for it would grow better if I made money on it I guess

[00:44:31] there'd be more opportunity more ability to give to you guys something but there's always what I'm going to ask of you now which is that on my website there is a button to donate to this podcast so if you've loved it and it's done something for you

[00:44:53] it doesn't have to be much but give something to this podcast you know show your appreciation for what it's given you because I now have people who are who are I guess doing the same thing and I'm not so sure about where it's going to go with them

[00:45:23] but I feel like at this point I've been pretty consistent with you guys about just sharing my heart my mind opening up to a bunch of information or perspectives that you might not have otherwise considered you know I'm here to help any of you in your path

[00:45:43] and have conversations with you of course record a diary entry but I'm also here as a friend, as somebody that if you really needed to have a phone conversation and go through a problem I've done that with several people who have gone through really terrible and tough times

[00:46:01] in their journey and just needed somebody to kind of bounce some ideas off of so I'm willing to be that and that's the kind of professional I want to be that's what kind of person I want to be that's what kind of friend I want to be

[00:46:17] and if that means that I can't get too big, if that means that you know I don't know what it means all I know is that money is not my god I do this because I have so much caring I don't know what to do with I

[00:46:41] want us all to rise together and to be as good as we can be and we have a lot of power if we don't give it away and we don't bow to things that we think are better than us just because they're more flashy and more polished and

[00:47:01] yada yada yada yada yada yada so I really shout out Painful Pleasures New Segment I did watch it I don't know if I missed where it was going to be maybe it's actually directly on their website I don't know but I saw the YouTube short

[00:47:28] and that was cool I'm glad that it's understood that apprenticeships are really important and they need to be talked about I obviously I felt that way for a long time I know that education is going to get down to this again that it's going to be about apprenticeship

[00:47:56] and it's going to go back to that now all I can say is that I really really hope that the passionate hearts stay in the game know each other stay together help each other and that they protect and defend what I have grown to love so much

[00:48:29] for so many different reasons and you know I think a lot of people look at the look at the glitz and glare and the flash of it it's a lot of freaking hard work guys and anybody who's done this journey now and I've watched grow

[00:48:47] in this industry they know that now it's a lot of continual work and continual heart that needs to be put into it and a lot of risk you have to be willing to leverage a lot to do this you know so I hope

[00:49:14] that it will be fought for the integrity of this profession will be fought for and it will be done for the reasons that matter which is delivering great great tattoos to people fulfilling our clients once making sure that we're well educated as much as we can be

[00:49:40] and that's the focal point I don't I don't know how much that needs to be told to somebody I'm personally not entirely against regulation I'll jump through a few hoops that's fine you know I understand the need for that there is a lot of actual

[00:50:07] safety reasons for that like I don't know I try so hard to be safe and to be good and to cover all those bases that I'm sure there's lots of fallout but you know I realize I mean just on a like for instance having an ID

[00:50:31] just to have an ID having that in a database so that if anything happens to challenge you know the status of your life or your being people know who you are so that's why you have an ID like if you get hurt in a car accident

[00:50:51] nobody knows who you are if you have your wallet on you and you have an ID they know who you are and they know who to contact et cetera et cetera so it's not always nefarious and I can appreciate where it's not

[00:51:05] and I'm not insinuating that it always is I just really really really really want the people who go into this industry or any industry to not be deluded about how quickly you can lose control and how much things can shift on a dime when it comes to people

[00:51:37] because more people more problems and you get too many too many cooks in the kitchen and nothing gets baked and things start falling apart and slacking off I mean already we're at a point where people don't make their own needles or they're mixed their own inks

[00:51:59] or any of those things we've lost and not everybody some people I'm sure still do but a lot of that is having manufacturers of products make these things for you so it's a dependency and if you're not willing to challenge those dependencies and rise beyond them

[00:52:19] then you're a prisoner to them and I see that I see that which is why I like the idea of calligraphy I like the idea of wood carving because you know yeah you have the electrical versions of these things and these fancy things

[00:52:37] that you can skip the difference with and probably expedite your ability to make things look good but at its core it's very raw at its core you're talking growing things in your garden and going out and mashing them together and mixing them with a few things

[00:52:55] making a pigment you know as long as you kind of know the general way to make certain things you can figure it out so I mean I just heard a story of a new friend being kicked out of a tattoo shop because he sells things that

[00:53:20] are made in Bali and because he pays his workers a Balinese a wage that I guess Indonesian wage that he got kicked out of this tattoo shop and the woman was so indignant about it she was like I was like you need to leave you don't

[00:54:00] convicting him of being a slave laborer or some shit meanwhile completely not taking in the fact that a flight to America from Bali I'm sure is no cheap thing not to mention you're probably renting a car the whole time and risk

[00:54:26] to your life and being that you're taking away from your family in order to go shop to shop to shop and you know do all of that it's um it's a lot to put on yourself and it all has cost whether it be money or just time

[00:54:46] which you can't get back which is our biggest commodity and you know you're making other connections while you're sacrificing others if it's away from your family you're not with your family so and not to mention these people are paid well they're happy they're like family

[00:55:11] it's not even the truth of what she was asserting and beyond all of that which is super frustrating is she's in a tattoo shop this woman that kicked out who is selling his wares and bringing them right to you and selling them at a good price and

[00:55:31] and I guess she just doesn't understand what the hell tattooing has become because every single cartridge it doesn't matter brand for the majority of the sake every single one of them is produced in some factory in China every single one including a lot of the sterile medical things

[00:55:53] that go right into hospitals like there's factories galore in China that produce and manufacture all those things that we buy from and not a single company I'm sure that exists in these Chinese you know these Chinese companies get paid American wages they get paid

[00:56:13] their country of origin wage which is why we do business with them and I'm fairly certain there was nothing about her her thing that was like you know I'm not going to deal with it unless it's made in America because so much of tattooing

[00:56:29] is not made in America anymore just not so unless she's in some kind of shop where they're doing where they're manufacturing their own needles and I do mean the needles themselves so that you're not buying pre-made needles okay unless you're in a shop that everything's made in America

[00:56:53] and you're making sure that that's the case and that's the source and all of those things then what does she think where does she think she lives and that's why I wanted to talk about all of this is that we need to understand the price of what we

[00:57:15] give ourselves to and what we put ourselves to our listening time and I know I'm probably preaching through the choir here because you all have been faithful followers of mine and I am so blessed by all of you and I want to thank the listener

[00:57:33] that tipped me off about painful pleasures I'm very grateful for that I'm also grateful for the few people who have come on the back end and offered support for how they thought I might be feeling about that I appreciate your care for me that's why I wanted to

[00:57:49] say something about this but I didn't I want people to know that as far as personally speaking I am kind of flattered I am kind of flattered my initial feeling was like shit man what but then I was like you know what live and let live god bless

[00:58:11] you know let's see what happens I'm going to put my faith in god I know why I do what I do I know where I care I know why I'm doing it you know in general I just know the why and I know that it's

[00:58:29] it's always had this very this very core love behind it that if it ever grows I you know it doesn't matter it what matters is that it matters to me and that I love it and that I want to continue to do it

[00:58:53] and that I am finding that through this I am able to stay connected to people in the community to network and I am finding people of very like like mind and I do like a lot more tattoo artists now than I ever did

[00:59:15] and I also think that it has humbled me in the best ways which is always good always always good I have a few interviews coming up that I'm really excited about that I'm really hoping I can be a better interviewer on so that's exciting Capcut might

[00:59:41] introduce some cool video clips to help advertise the podcast and see what happens there I don't know if I'm ever going to put the podcast on a full display you know if I get a staff of people maybe but that's a whole undertaking and you know

[01:00:01] I kind of like it that what we get here is just the voice because I think you can hear something in a person's voice that you might be romanced out of if you're seeing all of the glam if you're not seeing all of that I think that

[01:00:19] you're really asked to hear the soul and there's something magical about that to me so you know I don't know I mean I don't know I don't know about anything I'm gonna trust and I'm gonna keep going and I am flattered and it does strike me that way

[01:00:41] that I had a really good idea and that makes me happy I'm just amazed that it keeps happening in the weirdest ways that I that I mimicked but I am flattered alright listeners that's enough for this week I think I've given you some things to chew on

[01:01:03] I apologize if it wasn't you know I guess streamline hopefully I made my points oh nevertheless I'm I'm praying for all of you and I accept prayers from all of you definitely if you want to show this podcast some love I always like hearing about

[01:01:27] what you've gotten from the show and you can email us DM us all of those things or if you're really feeling awesome and you're able to donate there's a donate button on the website that's theapprenticeshipdarees.com go and offer some love and it will be very valued

[01:01:59] it will mean a lot to me and I'm willing also to think about fun things like if you want to offer something for the show or you want to play with an idea with me about something that we could do to expand I've thought about a few different

[01:02:15] fun things that I haven't gone, you know, I haven't done yet but I'm willing to hear from the crowd and I I want to keep pushing for all of you and I want you to know that whatever you do, this show or give to the show

[01:02:33] I hope to give back I love you all have a very, very powerful week by listeners tomorrow listeners