When I first started out as an entrepreneur, I truly had no idea how to separate myself from my business. At seventeen, I barely knew the line that defined what my self identity was, so how could I manage a world of adults around me that wanted all my time and energy.
As a new tattooer, I was working hard to network and grow my business, building clientele in any way that I could. This often meant giving out my cell number for clients to contact me, using Facebook messages, emails and texts for booking, or accepting literally any walk-in appointment that through the door. Very rarely was there a time that I did not feel I had to be connected to my devices and available for my clients.
It was EXHAUSTING and it was UNHEALTHY.
There was a point where it all became too much and I actually quit tattooing briefly and took a retail job at Lammle’s Western Wear. As fulfilling as selling cowboy boots was, I soon began to miss the artistry and community of tattooing.
Over the next decade, I began to make decisions about my booking policies, tattoo projects, client points of contact and availability that put my mental health at the forefront, and this started with setting boundaries for myself and my clients.
First and foremost, I set a dedicated schedule for myself that specified the hours that I worked tattooing and I enforced it. This allowed me to separate work and home life, and commit my entire attention to each at different times of day. In doing this, I allotted time for both actual tattooing as well as the unpaid working hours that I needed to perform any administrative tasks which allowed me to tattoo.
After this, I clarified my client points of contact. At the time, I was scheduling appointments via multiple social platforms, text, email and over the shop phone. This made it very confusing to find client references, design and appointment details and honestly caused me to double book myself often, or come to the appointment empty handed because I couldn’t remember or find the information about what I needed to draw.
This was problematic for a number of reasons, but mostly in terms of professionalism. If a client is expected to pay large sums of money for your services, it should be expected that you are prepared for their appointment. This problem was solved when I moved all client booking over to email. I do my best to maintain one email thread for each appointment, even if it means I need to remind the client of this. Of course, I still accept messages through social platforms, but once these messages become leads, they get redirected to email.
Thirdly, I stopped taking on every project request I received. My general rule of thumb is that if the subject matter and client do not bring me joy, the project is not for me. In my opinion, with the vast amount of artists in the city and province, if I am not thrilled to be doing someone’s tattoo, then I shouldn’t be doing it (and I generally recommend them to someone who WILL be thrilled).
Coupled with this, I started to fire clients that didn’t respect my boundaries or my artistic integrity. From a technical side of things, there are a number of small and finicky tattoos that just won’t hold well over time and I won’t put my name on something that will just look bad. This goes for poor composition, lacklustre color schemes and obviously anything discriminatory, racist, fatphobic, transphobic, sexist, ect.
Lastly, I spent the time creating policies and contracts that clearly explained my booking policies. This includes things like requiring deposits to hold appointments, loss of deposit without adequate notice, the agreement that I won’t send out a drawing ahead of time, the understanding that the client should be prepared to be on time for and present for the duration of the appointment (no last minute needing to leave early), ect. Of course, there are emergencies and exceptions that happen, but having firm policies allow clients to understand the expectations I have for them, and them for me, which helps foster respectful relationships between artist and client.
For the most part, these are fairly common sense parameters for anybody wanting to book, so it’s not really a problem to get clients to agree to respect my boundaries. That being said, should a client have issues with and refuse to adhere to these policies, I don’t work with them.
Tattooing is a really, really cool career, but at the end of the day it’s still a career. You are deserving of clients who respect your time and who respect your boundaries, because that reflects on your mental health and ability to plan for your future.
So get out there and set some boundaries!
With love,
Erin
