247 Ink Magazine (December/January) 2015-2016 Issue #6 | Page 17

to cancer. I do stuff at my shop for cancer, for autism for dogs…If people need help I’ll donate my time, my tattooing, whatever, whatever it takes. Are there any specific ones that you’re working with right now? No, we get people who come in the shop all the time. We do a lot for pets, man (laughs). There’s so many animal thing out there. That’s something that’s near and dear to me. Like Pitbull Rescue and stuff like that. I have a Pitbull, I’ve always had Pitbulls. We work with anybody really to be honest with you. I have a great shop full of guys and when people come in, it’s my shop but it’s up to them to give their time. Anytime I’ve ever said “Listen, let’s give a day for this.” They’re all up for it; they’re not making any money. They’re all in for it and we do whatever we can. Outside of tattooing what else are you involved in besides the concepts you have for the shows? Are there any other things that are on the immediate a nd distant horizon? Just to get better at what I do. To be honest I’m focusing more on maybe opening up another shop or two. Cutting back on my tattooing and just running my businesses. I’m twenty-five years in so I’m trying to get more on the business end of it. I’m just broadening my horizon. I’m opening up a couple of different kinds of business just so I don’t have all my money in tattooing. I got kids growing up. I have my fifteen year old here with me who wants to learn. He’s gonna start learning this year how to tattoo. That’s it man. Making sure my guys are doing good and making sure they’re getting blown up. I want to emcee more. I want to do more conventions. I have a lot of fun doing them. I have three of four this year so far. Hopefully I’ll book a bunch more. Being a 25 year veteran, do you still critique your work? I critique my work on every piece I do. Of course you should always be your worse critic. I am that’s why I don’t post too many pictures on Instagram. It’s funny; the pictures that I post on Instagram are usually tattoos that I’m like “Aw man, I don’t like that.” Then everybody in my shop is like “Dude, that awesome!” So I put them up and they’re the ones I get the most likes on. The ones I really like I don’t get shit on (laughs). I critique my work every day. The only thing I do is what I tell my guys to do. If I do a rose today, and I’m going to do one tomorrow, try to make that one better than the one I did 15