Want to learn to become a tattoo artist, but stuck in a 9-5 job with little spare time? Here is a step by step guide to transitioning to full time tattoo artist
Step 1. Structure your time
Achieving a healthy work/life balance is essential for our overall health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. Structuring your time using planners can be a great way to make sure that you have enough time in the day for all of your tasks, as well as activities to help you relax and destress. This will enable you to fit learning new skills around an existing lifestyle.
Time management is key for successful and meaningful learning. Creating a schedule that works for your individual needs can make it easier to stay focused and motivated while tackling a new skill or challenge. This will allow you to set aside the necessary time needed to learn something new, without having to sacrifice your own leisure activities or other important tasks. A planner is also helpful in keeping track of deadlines, which helps eliminate the stress associated with working at the last minute.
Step 2. Buy your first tattoo machine
The next step is to save up money to purchase the necessary equipment for tattooing, it can quickly add up, so it’s important to budget and be mindful of how much you are willing to spend. Start by setting aside a little bit every week or month to build up your savings, then once you have enough saved, start shopping around for good deals on the equipment you need. It might take some time before you can afford all the supplies, but it will definitely pay off in the end when you’re able to begin creating amazing tattoos with your own hands.
Once you’ve purchased your starter kit, make sure to keep up the good habits and continue to save. This will make life so much easier if you ever need to upgrade or even to have money set aside in the future to open your own studio.
Step 3. Learn in you own time
Master the art of tattooing by completing my full course, which will teach you everything you need to know. This can be completed in your own time, at your own pace. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got hours, or minutes – just a small amount of time each day will enable you to make leaps and strides towards your goal of becoming a professional tattoo artist.
Step 4. Start a Side Hustle
Having completed my course and starting to transition to tattooing real people, start to build up a portfolio of work highlighting you as a freelance artist. I also offer business and marketing courses that will teach you how to do this step by step. Working out your branding, pricing, finding a niche and building your customer experience. This step is going to be HARD, because you’re going to have to balance your full time job, your life outside of work AND essentially a new part time job on top of all that. If it goes well, you need to resist the urge to take on more work than you have time for. Instead set a firm amount of time each week that you dedicate to tattooing and start to build a waiting list.
Step 5. The BIG Switch
As your side hustle grows, and your waiting list gets longer, you can start to plan the most important part of your journey – switching from your old full time job, to a full time career as a tattoo artist. Make sure your waiting list is long enough to cover the equivalent of full time hours or salary, and that you’re comfortably stable financially. If you can reduce financial needs for the swap that will make your life easier. It may also be worth considering a more gradual approach with reducing full time hours if possible, or alternatively finding a part time position to subsidise the tattooing income until you are completely stable.
If you follow these steps, you can achieve your dream as a tattoo artist without having to take an enormous leap of faith, risking your livelihood or financial position. There isn’t any quick way or magic formula to a career in the industry – just take things slowly and put in the effort.
