I want work to be less dreadful and I think I’ve put enough years in to start being more selective with clients and their ideas. How do I respectfully say that I’m not interested/the right fit for a client?
Congratulations on reaching this stage in your career! There’s no magical number of years or hours of experience that can guarantee the feeling of readiness you’re describing. It sounds like you’ve built enough of a regular, dependable clientele and workflow that you can make changes without feeling like you’re in a precarious spot, which is a major accomplishment! Tattooing can function similarly to career development in other freelance fields, where you begin by taking any and all work that’s available to you and, over time, start to focus on work that is the best fit for you, whether that’s stylistically or how it aligns with your work style.
A disclaimer: my perspective on this is potentially totally out of touch with tattoo culture in 2022; we’re in an era where people can begin their careers hyper-specializing in a style or type of work and do only that, which is very different from how I began. When I worked at a walk-in shop at the beginning of my tattooing career, the expectation was that you could and should do whatever walked in the door. Working with all different kinds of people and styles of tattooing was invaluable for me in so many ways, and it was a long process to get to a point where I was making more active decisions about what I ideally wanted my work and clientele to look like as an appointment-only artist. I’m sharing what I know from experience, but am curious how other people navigate this!
I think the things I can point to that shaped how my career has evolved into what it is now are:
-Time: Really having a lot of years to try different ways of working, see how they panned out, adjust, repeat. I’m still figuring it out and dialing things in better all the time, and have accepted that it’s a process. This has allowed for dynamics with people to change too, and for me to explore creative shifts as they happen organically.
-Word of mouth: I’ve tattooed in the same city my entire career and have been involved in a lot of different communities and social scenes in that time, which has helped build a local client base that doesn’t rely solely on algorithmic visibility. I also value the mutual accountability that a firsthand recommendation invites.
-Sharing more about myself, and being more selective with press: Being forthcoming about who I am, my values, and what kind of tattooing I’m excited by has attracted people who are also excited about those things. When it comes to press and exposure, I definitely believed early on that any exposure was positive, but as the years have gone by I’ve found that things like podcasts and long form interviews have brought more reliable clients my way than “listicles” or “top 10” features that don’t tell the reader much about me beyond a single image of my work.
-Having outside factors that required me to have limits: going to grad school, tendinitis, sciatica! Very hard limits!! The body is saying no!!! Being faced with real consequences of overworking myself has made me say no when I might have a hard time otherwise.
I’d also take a look at outside forces that might inform how you’re working. Are you in a studio or shop situation that pressures you to take on every client, or are mangers and coworkers supportive of you working in a way that feels right for you? Are you putting pressure on yourself to take on clients you’d rather say no to out of sense of obligation? Capitalism and the relentless grind of inflation, rising rents and bills to pay mean that we’re put in a position to work in ways we otherwise wouldn’t choose. A helpful part of shifting the way you take on clients (and take in money) is to take a look at what you earn on average, how much you need to earn, and what flexibility you have there. This can often enable you to be more objective about how often you can decline work, to be more specific about what you say yes to (“If I need to do four tattoos this week, which ones would I want them to be?”), and to be less inclined to say yes out of financial anxiety when your budget is already covered.
To circle back to your question and some material advice-
First steps:
· Identify what feels “dreadful.”
I teach a workshop on burnout, boundaries and compassion fatigue and highly stress that people practice tuning into their felt sense as a way to clue yourself into what needs to change. Noticing things like a feeling of dread when an email notification dings from your work inbox, rising frustration when a concept description is pages long but doesn’t include a single concrete image…what do those tell you about what you want less of? I also make it a practice to notice when I’m feeling annoyed as an indicator that a boundary needs to be enforced (like when a client arrives an hour early and I don’t feel like I can take the time to eat lunch before starting our session).
· Translate that information into clear ideas about what you want to cultivate more of.
“I feel exhausted by consistent revisions on drawings I’ve worked hard on” might translate to “I want to book more flash appointments so clients are choosing designs based on liking them as is.”
“I don’t have enough time and energy for my family because I work late every night” could translate to “I want to start my work day earlier and book clients who can come in during the day so I can be home for dinner.”
· Create a simple, friendly script that you can stick to in person and in email.
Having clarity about what you do and don’t want will help you shape and stand by this.
Thank you for your interest in my work! I’m [focusing on a particular style these days][limited in how many new clients I can take on][going back to school full time] and booking clients who [are open to choosing from flash][don’t mind waiting until the fall][are interesting in getting large-scale pieces done]. I’m not able to take this on, but would love to recommend [x and y artists], who could be a great fit. I hope that helps!
· Know that some people might be disappointed or push back.
It doesn’t feel great to disappoint someone, and it can be nerve-wracking to practice saying no if it’s new to you. I’ve had to enlist my booking assistant to help me maintain boundaries that I set…that I then want to break. It’s easy to think “well, I know I said I couldn’t take on more clients this week, but this tattoo wouldn’t take long, so maybe if I just stay late one day…” and the next thing you know, you’re working seven days a week wondering why you did this to yourself.
If I decline, and someone tries to decline my declining, they’re already pushing your boundaries! When this happens, it’s easier than ever for me to say no. You’re allowed to have limits and to express them, and if someone doesn’t like that, it’s a red flag.
· Put out examples of what you’re inviting more of.
People like to get a sense of something new before they commit, and it helps to have examples of what you’re encouraging. If you’re hoping to do more sleeves and backpieces, showing mockups of that kind of work is a great way to do that if they’re not in your portfolio of completed work. If you’re posting flash line drawings already, try going a step further by rendering it as a painting or shaded digital illustration, and showing it against different body types and skin tones.
It may take time, but I hope this helps you make the kind of shifts you want to be making, and to find a more fulfilling balance with clients. Good luck!
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I’m excited to share that my book, Could This Be Magic? Tattooing as Liberation Work is available again via Afterlife Press. If you’re enjoying this newsletter, check it out!
Using the concept of trauma-informed care as a foundation, Santibañez expands on the vast political potential of tattooing, illuminating the unseen work tattoo artists perform without exception. Underpinning the infinite magic of tattooing is the emotional work that artists often come to fear and avoid. Santibañez argues that tattooing has enormous potential to both empower and disempower its recipients, and that we cannot fully realize its positive potential without first acknowledging the scope of what it accomplishes and supporting ourselves in our abilities and limitations.
Part manifesto, part love letter, part workbook, Could This Be Magic? features toolkit prompts and exercises, practical guidelines around good consent and boundary practices, and ideas for shaping a more ethical industry into the future. This work offers something to all artists from self-taught DIY tattooers to ritual practitioners, apprentices and longtime street shop veterans, from those newly engaging with activism to those who place politics at the forefront of their work. Sourcing quotes from artists from all walks of the industry, Could This Be Magic? is a profound exploration of the radical possibilities of justice-centered tattooing.