For me, turning the big 4-0 comes with its share of introspection.
But today's episode is rather the other side of the moon (or the coin) of last week's episode, "Ep.
65: A Few, Namely Five, Reasons I Love Being A Tattoo Artist".
Today I tell you five reasons being a self employed tattoo artist can be challenging. I'd say these are the most annoying things about it for me.
In short...
1. Charging people money!
2. email and consults at that awkward time, before the client and I develop trust.
3. not being able to read the client's mind
4. no logistical safety net, no PTO etc
5. taxes
but first... Lulu becomes the unexpected essence of opulence, thanks to a serendipitous perfume spill.
Enjoy!
episode transcript:
Micah Riot:
Hey y'all, my darlings, hello. It is March 21st, it's the day before my 40th birthday and I feel kind of weird about that. Not in like a bad way, mostly a good way. One of my closest friends is on her way here right now to spend the next week with me doing different things, and it's really fun. It's really cool. I'm really happy that people are making an effort to come be with me for this. I'm not usually like a celebrate myself type of person or like a center of attention type of person, but I really love my people and I love to see my people and I'm bringing a couple of folks together this weekend and I'm excited about that. My other best friend, my Bay Area best friend, is making me an experimental cake. I asked for something to do with sour cherries and she found a recipe, a couple of recipes that she's combining to create some sort of like a chocolate sour cherry situation. That sounds delicious and I love an experiment.
Micah Riot:
I will also report that I have now been on the pill for three plus weeks and I feel better. I talked about this before on the podcast that I have PMDD, which makes me emotionally a wreck like half the month, like two weeks out of the month, and last month, after I bled, I got pretty despondent about the end of this month and it's looking like I'll be going into my birthday weekend feeling like complete shit. So I talked to my gyno and my gyno prescribed me the pill and suggested to try it. I never really wanted to try it because I heard horror stories and I didn't want to experience the side effects that people talk about experiencing and I also was like I feel pretty bad and it lasts a long time and at this rate I'll be going into turning 40 feeling bad. So I'll try it and I started taking it and last week I had a really rough week, like there were some days where I was like just not, yeah, was not good, and I was like shit, am I going to just like feel like this? So I talked to my gyno and she was like give it some more time. It takes time and I have to report that I feel pretty good this week. So, yay, it feels like a small win over my hormones.
Micah Riot:
In other news. Lulu the dog smells fabulous because last week I was in LA visiting family and I went to Nordstrom because I like to wander around fancy stores when I'm there, because I can and I got some perfume samples from Tom Ford and one of them somehow ended up in her bed and spelled there a little bit. So now she smells like oud mineral by Tom Ford Smells really good on her, a lot better than it does on me, I have to say. Maybe her body chemistry is more suited to oud. Who knew that this little street pit bull would someday be laying on a $3,000 couch wearing $300 perfume?
Micah Riot:
So anyway, let's chat about today's topic, which is reasons being a tattoo artist is hard. In opposition of last week's episode maybe not in opposition and compliment, because everything in life has positives and good goodness and joy bringing qualities, and also things that are difficult. I would not even call them negatives. It's just that there's always a push and pull in life and everything has its sides. So this is the other side of the moon. Okay, drum roll.
Micah Riot:
Five reasons being a tattoo artist employed, all my own self-employed tattoo artist is hard. Number one charging people money. This is my least favorite moment of every session that I do and it's just a internalized money, shit right. And also because I love doing what I do. It's like hard to charge people money after I do the thing I do with them, because it feels like this very intimate, intense kind of experience that we have and then the end ends up being transactional, where I go okay, you owe me this much, and like people are not unhappy to pay me, like they're fine, but it's still really hard. And it's still really hard. Like 15 years in, it's still hard to feel like I fully deserve the money that I'm asking them for. And it's still really hard to feel like I'm not. Like, even though it's really clear like we've been tattooing for this many hours and this is my rate and this is what I'm charging you, it's still hard to feel like they know that I'm not like deceiving them, you know. Like I know they know, but it's still painful for me, like it's painful. There was a video on socials a couple of days ago where this girl is like talking about what it feels like to charge people money after you tattoo them and the whole video is like it will hurt, it will cause them pain. I don't want to cause them pain. Yeah, that's my least favorite part. I wish that I didn't have to do that part, but also it's part of my learning and part of my growth as a business owner and a tattoo artist and a human to do that piece, to do the piece that I don't really want to do. So that's reason number one.
Micah Riot:
Reason number two tattooing is hard is doing email and doing consults with people I don't know. It's like the time before the time between the person making their first contact with me until the time we get to know each other and we're like buddies and there's a lot of trust bill and there's a lot of joy in seeing each other and interacting with each other. So the time in between, which involves the email exchange and the first consult, is just so fucking awkward for me, like I'm there just being, like I am so friendly and nice and I'll answer all your questions and they're like I don't know if you're the right person for me. I think you're that person for me and they want to be the good early client and they also want to meet their own needs and it's just awkward Before really know each other. I think any human interaction before we build trust, some trust and some familiarity is just awkward and I'm really not into awkwardness, like some people really are. They're really into awkwardness and they find it like hilarious and charming. I don't. I prefer when I'm like we're good, like we're good, you're my buddy, like I really prefer that. So, yeah, that part's hard for me.
Micah Riot:
Reason number three is not being able to read my client's minds. So that goes along with reason number two, but it's a little different because it has to do with like doing the work for somebody on their body and like. People are pretty transparent for the most part. They get up and they're like I love it and you know, or they have some feedback or whatever the thing is, but oftentimes I don't really know, or I'm like what they say, they love it, but do they love it? Over time I've learned to trust them and trust my intuition and not trust my anxiety. But it can get that way when someone is fairly quiet or not very expressive which some people are and you're just like, oh my god, do they hate it? Again, there are videos, reels on socials made about this very topic and, believe me, we all feel quite anxious in those moments. So, yes, I would love to be able to read the client's mind in those moments and hopefully what they're thinking is oh my god, I can't believe this piece of art is mine. And look at my beautiful body. I love my body, I love having this piece. This is all making my whole life better. That's what I really wish I could hear inside their brain.
Micah Riot:
Reason number four there are no benefits when you're self-employed. You can give yourself benefits, but there's no paid time off and there's no sick time off like sick paid time. There's no healthcare. We have covered California now, which is cool, but yeah, everything's out of pocket. I pay for everything out of pocket and it's living in this capitalist society not having a safety net if I get sick.
Micah Riot:
There was a month last couple of years ago we had planned a trip to Europe. We're going to Berlin for like a week. It wasn't even that long, but it was like a summer month and I had gotten COVID about 10 days before we left. So I was sick at home for 10 days with COVID and then we left. I think the trip was also about eight days, because it's hard to go to Europe for just a week. Maybe it was nine days, like a day of travel on each end. So I didn't work for 20 days that month and I had to borrow money to pay rent, which sucked.
Micah Riot:
I mean, I have a tiny little bit of savings that's not really easy to use. It's not liquid money. I'm just trying to set myself up a little bit for the future. So, yeah, there's no 401K, there's very little safety net and I don't have the type of family that would support me if I needed it or really be able to help me If there's an emergency. Yes, I could get help to just pay rent and food.
Micah Riot:
But yeah, I think it is true that we're all not very far away from being very poor, living in poverty, a lot closer than we are to being millionaires. But when you have a job, there's more of a security net, when you have a salary and benefits If you get let go, there's usually a severance package and to be able to talk about paid time off or taking a month off between jobs to fuck around and just do whatever, and I've never been able to do that. But the other side of it is that I love what I do. I find it meaningful, I find it exciting, I'm stimulated in all the ways doing it. So it's a fair exchange, and I'm sure there's not only five things that are difficult, but these are the five main ones. The last one is taxes and honestly, it's gotten easier because I'm now employing Collective, which is a financial startup that helps small business owners do their taxes. This is not an ad for Collective, I'm just Like letting you know it's easier when you have help and I, like, have had accountants before and like paid for taxes and stuff, and it's always been like more complicated and more difficult To the accounting part, not the taxes itself part, but I did used to do my own taxes and I used to do it all on like paper.
Micah Riot:
I'd collect all my receipts and at the end of the year I would dole my math and I would do the math by hand, on paper and a pen and then and then I would put it all in TurboTax. Yeah, it was really fun, not fun. Don't do that. If you're a business owner, don't do that. Have an accountant or the very least, have your System organized so you have your business bank account. This is like a whole another episode of the podcast. But you want to have your own separate business bank account and you want to have a personal business Sorry, a personal bank account. You want to separate how you Make purchases, from which account you use the money or make your accounting for tax time way easier.
Micah Riot:
And so a couple years ago I finally had that system set up like really well, really solidly, by collective, and Taxes haven't been quite as painful, although they always cost a lot, and I have not yet Created a good enough system to save the money specifically for taxes to like really set aside that 30%. So at the end of the year I'm not scrambling. I'm still scrambling most years, and when it's time to pay, I will usually pay like a bunch of it and then be on a payment plan for the rest for a few months Through the year, which is, you know, like I'm an adult, I should get my shit together and figure out how to save for taxes through the whole year. But I'm in this like Cycle, you know where I'm Saving up the money to pay for this year's taxes and so I'm not able to pre-pay next year's taxes at the same time and it happens every year. But I'm getting better I'm saving more money for taxes specifically.
Micah Riot:
So, yes, that's my least favorite part. It's the most stressful time of the year and, just like you know, keeping your accounting good, that's, you know. It's just not my thing, really, it's not the kind of way brain I have, but I have to say that, like, businesses become more interesting to me over over this, this last decade, and if I Chose to go to school, I might get business skills, business like business school skills not that I want to go and get my MBA or anything I don't but there are, like, as I get older, there's just like more and more interesting things to study in the world that I would love to devote myself to studying more deeply, and business is one. Marketing is interesting, and I would also like to divest from capitalism. So, I don't know, all things are true at the same time. But yeah, there you go. These are the five reasons.
Micah Riot:
Being a tattoo artist that's self-employed, it's hard, but I still wouldn't give it up for anything and I'm hoping you're having a lovely week and a good weekend. When you're sitting in the sun this weekend, think of me, send me some Good juju for turning another decade on this earth in this lifetime, in this body. It's not so bad, I have to say. Yet I feel okay about it. Yeah, I feel okay about it. Okay, my loves have a have an excellent week and I'll talk to you very soon.