4.14.11

The last 2 days I've been working on finishing and touching up Brian's Alice in Wonderland sleeve we started 3-4 years ago.  We still need one more session to get all of the old colour that's 3 years old on par with the new colour we put in the last few days.  No photos because I've been tattooing all day and drawing all night for the past few days.....

I had friends of mine come in today to check out drawings, and I must have looked extremely tired.  It's a pretty rare thing when a client tells me "wow, stop working so hard... take a break."  Which was actually timed quite well and will be the subject of today's blog post.

For most of my 12 years tattooing, it's been a one man show.  I've done everything- drawing, tattooing, answering emails, booking appointments, cleaning, editing photos, updating the website, blogging... even at times screen printing my own shirts.  At this point, to say it's become a bit more than a full time job is an understatement.  Unfortunately thing have finally gotten to a point where I just can't keep up anymore.  The last few weeks I've fallen behind on drawings, emails, and sleep... The old system just isn't working anymore.

So after a few weeks of discussing a game plan, I'm extremely happy to say that my amazing wife Teagan will be helping me out a bit more on a daily basis.  Probably a couple of you know that  a few years ago, I owned a small tattoo studio in Vancouver, and towards the end of that era, Teagan ran the show/ managed the studio and did an amazing job at it.  A few months later,  I had to fire the best help I've ever had so I could date her... and fall in love with her... and eventually marry her...

I guess everything comes full circle at some point, and I'm extremely happy she's back helping out with small tasks that will make my life 120% better.  For now, she's agreed to take over answering emails and a bit of scheduling so I can focus more of my time on drawing, painting, and tattooing... and getting back to a normal sleep cycle...

I'm extremely lucky to have her helping out again, as she probably knows more about tattooing and the tattoo "industry" than 1/2 the tattooists in this town.  We still need to figure out a few small detail on how this will work effectively, mainly how manage and book appointments, but we have a few ideas.  She started catching up and attacking my inbox today, and it was an amazing feeling even after one day to have one less thing to worry about.

Thanks Teagan, you're awesome!