Tattoo Shop Atmosphere

A tattoo shop has long been considered a extension of many artist family. Lets face it with an artist creative side to blossom the place where he or she works has to be up beat and nurture the creative side. Sometimes this comes with risk to the shop in the form of too much drama and it's up to the owners of the shop to make changes when needed.

I've personally worked at shops that were both fun and a drag, when I opened Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo I wanted it to have an atmosphere of fun and learning. I've learned many important lessons in my time owning the shop. Drama can be a morale killer and also effect the way customers and the art they receive. So when it generally comes to things effecting the customers I have to step in and fix the situation. I really hope that I can make the right decisions so the atmosphere can stay fun and exciting.

One thing that is certain is that it takes the entire staff to work together as a team to run a shop. The shop is never defined by just one artist or even the owners. A shop is defined by all that participate in making the shop the best it can be. I've seen lots of shops come and go in my time in the industry because the morale of the shop effected the customers and they would stop coming. I had an instance were two apprentices started going out together outside the shop. When they were inside the shop they would ignore customers and make the shop look bad. I had to get rid of them because they couldn't keep personal stuff outside the shop and caused all kinds of drama.

It wasn't until this past week me and my partners decided it was time to enforce a rule where staff cannot date each other. If they do then they need to keep it quiet and out of the shop.When staff start dating each other they forget where they are when they are working. They show displays of emotion that wouldn't be accepted in any other work place atmosphere. So now to avoid any more problems within the shop the decision to stop it all together is the best way to prevent any more problems.

Artist are sometimes a little slow when it comes to the economy. They are use to making great deals of money everyday and forget that we either feast or go hungry because we work on a percentage only. There is only a handful of artist out there that can name their price for a shop to hire them. Most of these artist who think they are hot shit go store to store for 5 or 6 months and either quit or get fired because they get use to a daily routine. They start relying on the shop to bring them customers instead of getting their work out there. When that starts happening they change the morale of the shop because they are not making the money.

Owners and even other artist have to stay on them type of artist and push them to network and get the word out. Last case effort has to be for an owner to understand when to say enough is enough. If the artist don't have the drive to make his own career go then it's time to part ways with that artist. An owner can only take so much before he/she has to say enough is enough. Yea the shop might lose a few customers here or there because the artist is no longer there. But on the flip side the owner will gain more customers because the atmosphere in the shop will change back to a positive nature.

This is something that come Wednesday I will discuss with the apprentices. Most of them want to operate their own shop one day. This topic here is a make or break for any shop. As future tattoo artist/owners you always have to put the shop first. It's your business and how you will be making a living when you graduate.