RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Podcast
Talking local sports, business and real estate.
RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Podcast
A Tattoo Artist’s Journey Through Apprenticeship, Style, And Slow Growth: Dave Vancasso
Hey guys, John Backman. You guys see what you like. Mr. George Hernandez. Special guest, Mr. David Licasso, tattoo artist in the house.
SPEAKER_03:Nice to be here. Thank you, sir. We're excited.
SPEAKER_02:We appreciate you coming in and we want to hear about you, where you're from, what's your story?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I've been here since I was five. Uh I don't remember Colorado's where I was born. Okay. So we came here around uh five years old, and um I've just been here ever since. So yeah, yeah. So Vegas is what I know. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02:How how did you get into the tattoo industry?
SPEAKER_03:Uh okay, so it's kind of a long story. I'll try to make it short. Um I've always been into art. Okay. Um I thought maybe um designing through graphic designing and clothing would be the way to get in. Uh my main job, I was an assistant manager for for Lowe's. Uh this was two years ago. And um in 2019 I had bought a home. Uh we had some we had a falling out between uh me and Lowe's, and um my buddy was in tattooing and he was like, Hey, you've always been in the art. Um I've known him since since like middle school. And uh he was like, You should let me train you how to tattoo. You have to you have to pay for an apprenticeship, but um you've always been in the art. I think you'll be good at it. So I'm like, all right, let me think about this. I got a mortgage right now, you know. Let me let me just see if I can make this work. And um thought about it for a couple days, and I went back to him and I was like, you know what, let's let's take a run at it. And uh, you know, so I'll paid for the apprenticeship.
SPEAKER_00:Um how long is an apprenticeship? Apprenticeship.
SPEAKER_03:So it can start anywhere from the the shop has to decide. So it's between six months and two years. Okay. Uh so they have to determine whether you're ready or not, and then they sign you off, and then you go to the health district and you give them the paperwork, and then you're signed off and you get your your license. Okay, okay. Uh the legit way. Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of people do some other ways. Yeah, so it's uh it's a little different. Um but yeah, so uh at six months I was I was ready. I kind of got the hang of it pretty quick. Well, f the basics. Um, but during that time, COVID happened, we had to shut down the lockdown. Um, I couldn't collect unemployment from from my previous job, and then I also didn't have enough background to collect unemployment for. They did, I think that was the first year they did uh self-employed unemployment. Okay. Um and I couldn't do that because I had just started, so I had nothing to kind of back off of. Um, so you know it was it was uh it was interesting, but I just stuck to it and um and I'm here now and just running with it, you know.
SPEAKER_00:So were you able to tattoo during COVID at all?
SPEAKER_03:Uh so there there was this thing where some artist could uh potentially uh work out of places if they were being called. Uh but I know it was illegal to do that um in a sense.
SPEAKER_00:So I feel like that's when I would have done it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and uh and and to be and to be honest, because everyone was kind of shut down, it actually was a lot of people that really wanted to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um so it almost could have you can consider it a gift in disguise, to be honest. Yeah, and you know, honestly, uh shout out to all the people that I used to work with. Um I always left with good terms with a lot of people. Uh and I managed about I think six six stores in the valley. And uh a lot of people I kept in contact with, and some of those people came through to um tattoo. They they kind of, you know, when you're doing an apprenticeship, it's it's voluntarily based. So uh you don't charge, it's it's ti tips if they want, but there's no there's you don't have to um you don't charge. So um yeah, and and it just kind of it just worked out. I I don't know what it was, uh catching on and just being determined. And I think all the art stuff that I studied back too, I guess, you know, it's it's different. So when you're when you're when you do art, when you go into tattooing, you have to discover a whole new medium uh of how to how to design on skin.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um how to even like um process of tattooing on the skin. It's actually an ongoing thing. Even at about seven years I'm at right now, it's still an ongoing thing. You still run into stuff that you're like, oh, okay, this is different. And um, and you also have an example of that, like what well, um for if an easy example is if someone is um not hydrating enough with like drinking water and um you know they don't take care of themselves. You you can you can tell when you're tattooing the skin, it doesn't accept the ink or the needle the same as if someone is um is doing those things. Do you recommend then hydration? Hydration fire, yeah, yeah, for anything.
SPEAKER_00:I mean I mean good I mean because then you bleed a lot, right?
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah, I mean it's a possibility, right? Because your your blood thins out and technically you you you're only really kind of scraping the surface, so you're not really supposed to bleed too much, anyways. Okay, right. Unless you're doing like uh a full saturation, like a lot of black in in an area or you're doing color. So when you're fully saturating, you're gonna bleed because you're just you're saturating the whole skin with ink. Okay. Uh so you will have bleeding in in those tendencies there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So tell me what is the but not like it's not like I I want to know what that new fat. I don't know if it's personally my favorite, but when people are just blacking out their whole arm, what what is that about?
SPEAKER_03:Uh it just depends on the style. I mean, it's just a style. Everything, everything nowadays is style, neotraditional, uh fine line, kind of a fine line as you see it a little bit less now. I think there's a lot of harp on on that. And I think that's due to people coming in thinking that it's supposed to be done a certain way, or you don't you there's a lack of training and understanding in that. So uh sometimes you do fine line. Uh yeah, I do a mixture of uh mine's a little bit contemporary, so it's a mixture of like fine line and uh realism or geometric. So uh to make it a uh you know a unique style.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, so yeah, it just it depends. You know, the blackouts are are a style, uh ornamental work is a style, you know, there's just a bunch of different stuff.
SPEAKER_00:What's your favorite uh to do?
SPEAKER_03:Uh obviously, you know, what I'm into right now is the the contemporary work. Uh you know, it's a mixture, contemporary, like small realism with or like floral and geometric. Right, right. Mixing, I think, those three categories in. And the other thing is I think as an artist, for me, in my opinion, as an artist, you want to kind of focus in on a few, like a couple styles, not everything. Right, right. You know, I think top maybe four or five, in my opinion. Because then you can you can try to go through and try to perfect uh that style because it takes time, it takes a long time to there in a fast-paced world, tattooing like other things, is you can't go fast. Uh you can't go fast in the process of tattooing, and then also two, you need to see how it heals. Yeah. And it's not just how it heals in two weeks, it's how does it heal in two years? Right, right. And so uh it takes time. You got to see how those come back, and then you you you change your approach and you just do what you can.
SPEAKER_00:So when you're tattooing a big piece, like how what's your head space? Are you just literally looking at the lines or are you like zoning out? Are you what what what goes through one's head on the head's all over the place all the time.
SPEAKER_03:So I'm like, I wonder in the beginning, uh the best way to kind of explain when you're first trying to tattoo is like taking a piece of paper, dipping it in water, and then taking a calligraphy calligraphy pen and trying to draw on it. Yeah, because you don't feel anything, like you know, when you're drawing or you're writing on something, you have something in the back. Oh, you don't feel you don't feel nothing. Because it's like yeah, so you have to listen for certain sounds or watch their depth. Um, and so that takes time to understand as well because you don't feel it puncturing.
SPEAKER_04:Oh right. Yeah, okay. Oh, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_03:It's like the hand, the hands and skill motions that you have to have. Yeah, it was when when when I first started, I was like, wow, like I just want to do art. What is this? Like, what is going on? And then, you know, uh traditional machines, there's a different setup. You're yeah, you're getting a needle bar and you're you're putting all these things together to make sure the machine is ready before you even tattoo, and there's a lot of things that can go wrong. Right. And so you're trying to like fix that machine. And when I was first doing that, I was like, dude, I this is crazy. I don't know how I can make this happen. And then because it was uh it was my friend, because he's like, you have to like as traditionally trained, you have to like know how to do these kind of things. He's like, Here, let me choose, let me put you onto uh a pin, a rotary, uh, which is like a pin style, and then it was like I was good from there. Okay. Because I don't have to worry about anything. You just you have the pin style, you make sure it's charged, the battery's charged, okay, and then you get the cartridge and you plug in the cartridge and you go.
SPEAKER_02:Is there like a physical toll though? Because you gotta hold it steady. And how long can you like tattoo during the day? Like how many hours can you go?
SPEAKER_03:Um, so nowadays with my back, um, I try anywhere between like five and seven and a half hours, maybe eight. It just depends, you know. Uh it depends on on how I'm how I'm doing, and then also uh how the client's doing as well, you know, because it is painful. After after four hours, it's pretty annoying to to for a person to keep getting punctured over time. Yeah. Does it back bother you because of the tattooing, or just it was a good idea? I just have bad posture when I'm tattooing. So it's waiting over. Well, you know, and and it's everything that we're doing is is sitting down. As I'm I'm drawing the design prior to for hours, I'm sitting down. Uh I'm I'm on social media, posting, I'm sitting down, answering emails, I'm sitting down. That's tough. So sitting down all this time and then go into tattoo and sitting down all this time. It it gets over time, it just it's it's hurts. Yeah, but oh I bet how do you keep your energy up?
SPEAKER_02:Because I know like I never sit down. This is the only time I sit down during the day.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Um so during tattooing, uh, I try nowadays, I try to do like a two-hour I at two hours we take a break. Okay. Anywhere from five to fifteen minutes. Um, and then we just go back in for two hours. But and and for me, exercising definitely is like key. I try to exercise as much as possible. Okay. Um prior to coming in for my tattoos. I I'll do about well, anywhere from five to six times a week, depending. Uh you know, I'm a little older nowadays, so I do I do weights, but I also try to just like maybe get some cardio and stuff. And then with my daughter, I have a daughter too. Uh she she does volleyball these last three years, so I kind of like practice with her, or I was coaching them actually for three seasons. Nice. Uh so they they I got some exercise being out there with them too, as well. So very well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm like, so what type of clients do you get? Is it usually is it all over or is it somebody that's already all tatted up? Like, what's your client? It's a mixture, and you know, I guess they're a favorite type of client, like the first timers, and you're like, oh, this is or or is it yeah?
SPEAKER_03:No, I you know, honestly, uh, so sometimes uh I get the question, like what's a nightmare that a client you've had? And I've actually been pretty blessed to have great clients. I'm not gonna lie. It's it might sound cliche, but uh it's been nice. I've been I've been getting like I you know, you have some things here and there. I'm a very mellow person. It takes a lot for me to get over the top. Yeah. So it's like, you know, it's like I I don't know. You like and and I don't I don't ever uh when I'm interacting with people, there's not like this way we're not gonna tug back and forth. Right. You know, we're gonna we're just gonna we're trying to get to the point where we're making a good product for you, right? And a lot of times, like I said, I get people that come in that are pretty chill. Uh but uh any client you know that comes in is you know, I treat them equally.
SPEAKER_00:Probably social media has a lot to do with it, right? Because then you're kind they're kind of already gravitating towards you and your own. I believe that's what it is.
SPEAKER_03:I believe the audience that you create through social media allows you to have people that are gonna be pretty similar to a line, yeah, aligned to you, especially if you go the route of um, I believe, um kind of giving your personality a little bit to it, you know. And I do a little because I I try to make it uh so where you can find like the the tattooing and and and see the art, you know, don't go a little bit too far off. Plus, I I'm I'm a very private person too. So trying to mix in a little bit. That's why saying that I have a daughter probably will shock some people because I don't really I don't really post, but I'm with her like all the time. Yeah. I I post some stuff with volleyball through my stories, but nothing like on the actual page and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02:I'm the same way. We do a lot for our business, but I I don't typically do private moments as well. So I I understand that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and to each their own. There's nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, no.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, definitely to each their own. It's just what my preference and and where I'm comfortable.
SPEAKER_00:I'm the same way. It's like, yeah, people think that yeah, it's they see a lot, but it's not. I somebody told me it was a coach, and they're like, once you put it out there, it's really hard to then take it back. Now you've exposed everybody to it, and now everybody feels like they can have an opinion or yeah, you know what I mean? So it's better to just not. So how did you create your brand? Because it has a certain look on Insta. And um, I don't know. I just clients come from like social media or uh is it just I think it's a mixture.
SPEAKER_03:I think there's some word of mouth in there, and then uh social media for sure. Um, and then it's also um a mixture of like locals and trap and people that come in and travel. Yeah, yeah, cool. Yeah, yeah, it's been pretty cool. I I think it's about 50 per 50-50 okay locals and and and people that travel.
SPEAKER_00:Is there anybody that you want to get like uh tattooed by? Anyone that's like famous or anybody that resonates and you're like because once upon a time, do you guys remember the Cat Von D show? Yeah, oh like yeah, dude, that was cool. And then there was the Heart and Huntington kids, and you're like, Oh, I want to go to LA just to get a tattoo. Is there anybody that you want to get tattooed by? Is there anybody that you're like, oh, that'd be cool?
SPEAKER_03:Uh nobody I can think of. You know, I I I enjoy being around the artists that I'm around. And then when I start to like how many people are at your shop? Is it just so? So we have about um four to five, and then we get guest artists that come in into the shop. Okay. Um, but to me, it just knowing these guys that I work with um and getting tattooed by them is pretty cool. You know, and there's some great artists out there, don't get me wrong, but I'm at the point now, the way that I get tattooed is I I'm building a look for me. I'm I'm doing I'm actually going through some of the blackout that you were talking about earlier. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I'm gonna have I'm gonna have uh geometric.
SPEAKER_00:So how do you does that hurt? But it has to, right?
SPEAKER_03:Because it's yeah, you're saturating the whole skin, so it has a little bit more pain pain involved. But um I won't have everything completely blacked out, but then so but it's not to cover up, right?
SPEAKER_00:Because you could laser it off. It's like people that are blacking out is not it's not to Yeah, I mean it's it's a mixture.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know. Everyone has their own idea. Maybe sometimes they don't want to do the lasering and they just just go through with the blackout. Yeah, yeah. For me, we're we're building a geometric uh theme, so we'll I'll have all of mine looking more uh ornamental geometric. Um so it'll have a I'll have a flow with it.
SPEAKER_02:Is there anything you can do to help the pain when you're going through that process? Or there's numbing stuff out there.
SPEAKER_03:I don't really recommend the no, I feel like that's we're gonna get it through the pain. Yeah, yeah. They have anesthesia for you know people that want to pay a lot more. Um I think that would probably be better for the healing, uh, possibly. I don't know. I don't know too much about the anesthesia. The cream is a little bit finicky because it changes your the way your pores are. Oh, yeah. So it tighten I feel like it tightens the pores, which doesn't allow the ink to saturate uh fully. So you might slow down the process, um, and you're just gonna you're gonna deal with the pain either way. And then what happens is when the receptors turn back on, your pain is actually two times worse. Okay. So it's numb at first, but then if you're continuing to set it up, it feels like sunburn. It's it's yeah, it gets bad. It burns, yeah, from what I heard.
SPEAKER_00:What do you think is the most painful location on your body to get tattooed?
SPEAKER_03:Big question. Uh that that will depend on uh the some of the clients, because you get clients that are like, oh, this is nothing, and I'm like, oh shoot.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because none of mine have hurt.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so um I would say for me personally, my legs were were bad. Yeah. Uh and then it went to my then I would say my back um pretty much my whole leg.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man, because that might want to get done by you. It's up front.
SPEAKER_03:There might be a is it because of this bone right here? There might have been a little break on the shin, I think, for me, but you know, the guy that I that I had to uh tattooing, he was a little bit more heavy-handed. So it could have been just my experience. Plus, I did back-to-back days. That is true. And mine's more, I have a lot more like some black work in there, and and there's a there's a lot more onto my leg than the type of style that I do. Right. So it might not be as bad considering the style. Yeah. Um, so it does depend on the person, depends on the style that you're getting. Um, you know, it depends on the client and the the tattoo artist. So those three things I think would be what you would um consider. So, but yeah, uh leg could be bad, neck obviously will be bad, your ribs will be bad. I heard the back is bad. I have I don't have my back yet.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, oh I I would have thought it been like hands or something.
SPEAKER_03:That's what my hand oh hands I heard is is is a little bad as well. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I mean I have a little bit on my hand. It was it was cool. It was he was in and out, so okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Is there anything you'd recommend somebody who is trying to break into tattooing? Uh advice for somebody.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, I would say uh I know it's a little bit um frowned upon to to try to go through the tattoo apprenticeship with some people.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Um, but I think it's the best way to do. I think you want to try to align yourself to the style that you want to do and then try to get into shops that do that style and do an apprenticeship with them. Um because you will you will know more about tattooing through people that have the experience than just trying to maybe learn a couple lessons online or just trying to do like the I'm gonna do it on my own type thing. Um and and you know, there's outliers, right? Some people get it, some classes you if you take enough, you'll be able to to make it happen. But I think when you work with a group, you can elevate yourself faster. Right. Um, you know, we live in a society now where um uh excluding yourself away and trying to do things on your own is like the mainstream thing to do. And like networking or building in groups, it's almost uh kind of not as much anymore. Right. But and and I get it, because sometimes it's you they don't want to share or someone gets better and you know the ego thing and the jealousy comes involved, but it's you have to concentrate on your own. I tell this is the thing that I always leaned on when I was t when I first started tattooing. Is uh one thing that you can always think about is even if you were gonna get a client every single day, you're only tattooing 365 people. I don't want to work every single day. Right. So I'm not tattooing 365 people. Right, yeah. There's so many people out there that that you could get as a client. Why would you harp and and think that it's a bad thing to work with other artists? Right. You build faster, you grow faster, you learn things that if you all three of us were tattooed, yeah, you might see something one day, I see something one day, and we're sharing, and you see something another day. Oh man, you're gonna skyrocket. Yeah, again, you can grow on your own. It's it's a it's a possibility. Yeah, but how fast do you want to grow? Yeah, you know, and you do want to be around good people, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think it's also the vibe, right? Even if you have similar styles, I know for me it's all vibes. I mean, we we get that in real estate, right? Make sure your clients are gonna be your clients and my clients are gonna be my clients, and they gravitate towards one or another. Yeah, we learn from each other. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So So, what are your goals look like in the next coming years with your brand and what you're trying to achieve?
SPEAKER_03:Uh well. You know, keep keep continuing to do art. Um, whether it's in skin or maybe it's some other things, maybe it jump back into some clothing stuff or other stuff. I don't know. We'll see. I I I'm open, you know. Yeah. Uh I definitely think that with the background um being in like management and things like that, I have this business sense that I'm open to kind of not put my eggs in all in one basket. You know, uh growing my portfolio. Uh I told you guys earlier I had the real estate thing, I exited out, um, and then just continue to grow portfolio. I you know, once you exit out, you should still try to put your money somewhere where it can work. Yeah, diversify for sure. And rental, I know it's it's a big thing. Real estate, um you can you can you can grow wealth, right? You can you build equity, you can you can use it as a rental and stuff like that, but you have to choose what makes sense for you. And for me, it made sense to kind of exit and do other things with with the revenue and kind of continue that. And uh, you know, I can always enter back in. Uh right, and I'm definitely open to doing that. Um, but yeah, growing the portfolio, uh, you know, maybe opening a shop, who knows? I think that'll be a long-term one though. Uh because I like just being an artist. Having a shop is is pretty rough. Because for me, whoever comes into tattooing with me, I want to make sure that they're gonna grow. It's not just like, hey, pay the rent and you do your thing. No, it's it's hey, let's work together. What can we do to what can I do to help facilitate your growth as well? That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:So we can achieve what has been your biggest growth moment over the last year?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, man, I don't know. That's a tough that's a good question. That's a good question. That's a really good question. Um, I think continuing to to build on faith, uh, to to have trust in in the process to um to slow down. I think to to accept the slowdown. Man, we're thinking yeah, and so it's it's and it can be hard because to the the fast-paced life, right? Everything is so much faster. You you and you involve technology and AI, it's really, really quick. So to take the time to slow down and kind of enjoy moments and enjoy the journey. I remember reading a couple things I I love reading right now, and it's so crazy because when I was in school, I hated it. Yeah, uh saying that's it. That's kind of like yeah, yeah. You get to a point, it's like, well, you you can you have options to learn more. Like, why not? And learn the things that you're interested in. That that makes more sense to do, right? So um I forgot what I was talking about, but but basically, uh I remember seeing something about about that, just enjoying the the journey. Because when you get to that goal, uh there's just another goal, and it's like a it's like a quick dopamine hit, but that whole process you can enjoy, right? You can get to that point, you think back, you know, and pain only lasts for so long. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and with tattooing too, right? Yeah, what has been your favorite book that you've read this year? So I always recommend again, but it's funny with books because it's like people books are kind of like people, I say. You have to be ready to accept what you're gonna read, right? That's true. And because you can go to someone and you can get advice from them, but if you're not open to hear it, you is it kind of go in one ear and not the other.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Um, but yeah, so with books, I think two books. I was gonna actually do a post about this for my recommendation because I think these two books actually help a lot of team. Yeah, yeah. Um Don't Believe Everything You Think, and then The Subtle Art of Not Giving Uh, I don't know if I can customize it. Yeah, yeah. So we read that one.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, is the first one is it the Joe Dispenza one or no? Don't believe everything you think. Who is that one? Oh no, that's the changing your yeah I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:It sounds familiar, yeah. Yeah, it's a good one. And they're both short reads, to be honest. And and so I've read those books uh several times, about three, and then I've listened to them on YouTube. So if you don't want to get the book, you can always just listen on YouTube first. Yeah. Uh another good one, actually, too, that I listened to and I was thinking about buying was The Mountain Issue. Uh and I think the author Spring talked about this.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Yeah, I have to say.
SPEAKER_03:The author was a young lady. She was she's only, I I think when she wrote that, she was only like 23, 24. Oh, but the amount of experience that's in that book, it sounds like someone that's like 40 or 50 just explained. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm like you go, girl.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, sometimes it's just yeah. Okay, we're gonna have to check those out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're building our our list. We we're big into reading too right now, we're into spirituality. So we're doing that and it's to do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's true you were saying too about books, because there's certain books that re we read like annually, and I can't tell you, and then you'll read the fourth time, you get something completely different out of it, because then you're like ready for that, right? Right?
SPEAKER_03:And you have the aha moment, so it's yeah, yeah, it's great, it's great, and yeah, always come and go back to them. That's why I think I I go back to those books. Yeah, uh, they were good for one, and then I just you see you read it again, and it's like reinforcing or even like catching something new, like you said, too, as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just reminders at times. I realize it's like sometimes it's just yeah, that little reminder of whatever it is.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and and those kind of books and and just uh grounding and slowing down with with especially if you use social media, um I think they're good. You have to build your mind strong. Right now more than ever. You have to you have to mentally get strong with everything that's getting thrown at you and and how we use business, and if you're wearing a lot of hats, it's not even just tattooing. If you're doing any type of business and you utilize social media, or if you don't utilize social media and you have to wear a lot of different hats in the business that you do.
SPEAKER_00:And being an entrepreneur, it's that, right? Like one day you feel like you're on top, and the next day you're like and everything's like falling apart. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's very humbling. Those ones are tough, and and and I think uh um waking up and making sure that you're grateful, you know. You know, you just I think that's also something that's helped is just being grateful about anything, any little thing. Just pick something. I taught the kids that actually. I had them writing in a journal, and I told them, hey, look, in the journal, there's a lot of things that happen what I see as adults. Write one thing that you're grateful for. Or write something that that made you happy that you did something, uh, and and we'll we'll build off of that. You'll build off of that. So that's great advice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I'll expand. I just saw an Instagram reel and I thought it was beautiful. And it's as it sounds a little corny, but it's uh in the morning. Oh, good things keep happening to me. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I sent it to you, but it was not like, oh, and then she's like, This one day, right? I changed the narrative, and she's like, There was green lights, my trainer was available, it's all these things, but then it's also manifestation, right? Just because you're putting it out into the world, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:No, for sure. It does sound cliche, and in a world where it's like really like you can't be so goody good and things like that. Trust, it's it's okay, right? You can do that, you can also have boundaries and make sure you're not gonna get ran over. Right, and that's the biggest thing, right? There's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing wrong with being a good person. It's only wrong when you're not having boundaries and you're getting taken taken advantage of it. Right, yes, right, and that's the problem. Sometimes I tell people it's like they get mad because oh, I did so I did something good for this person. Did you do it because you wanted to? Right. Or you're trying to get something out of it. That's two different things, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, and then you're depleted, you're a people person, and then what happens is like you build that little. We were talking about this the other day, right? Like with friends, and we're like, Jay Shetty says this. It's like the unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments. I'm like, oh, it's truth. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, but then it starts with us. It's like, oh, we say yes, yes, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:Then we're yeah, far and deep, and yeah.
SPEAKER_03:The other thing, the spin off of that as well, is also something that I learned is uh you see potential in people, and then you you do more to try to get them to be in that potential, and if they don't choose to grow into that, you you get upset because it's like I did so much for them, they did this, right? They could be this, they could do that, but they have to choose that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, bro, that's literally what our coaches say. They're like, you can't want it more for them than they want it for themselves, for sure.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, you can't.
SPEAKER_00:And we get it, running a team.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, all the time. Yeah. So what do you do for fun when you're not tattooing? I know you hang out with your family, but yeah, hang out with the fam.
SPEAKER_03:I I honestly, I'm in I'm enjoying this moment because I think about when she was small, and I can't you there's this thing that I seen, you won't remember the last time. You uh do you have kids? Do you guys have kids? I don't know, no. You won't remember the last time you hold your your kid as a small child. And I can't remember the last time what day that was. Yeah, how old she was, because as a as a preteen or even as a teen, they're not little anymore. You don't hold you it's not the same. And so I'm enjoying this moment right now because she's gonna grow into a wonderful lady who's just gonna be out there killing her goals, doing her thing, going to school, doing sports, doing something, right? And uh, I'm gonna look back and just enjoy these moments. And so this is that's part that's really big for me right now, honestly. Um, and just exercising, exercising, grabbing some reeds, grabbing a coffee, and just watch that sunset sometimes is actually killer too. Some hikes. I haven't been on hike in a little while though, but hikes. We haven't either, we keep on saying. Yeah, nice and nice nature, you know, yeah, some nature, just any little things that are just very easy, you know, they're they're really enjoyable right now. Yeah, and you just never know how life's gonna turn. Just being present, yeah, yeah. It's the biggest thing for me right now. I know it's kind of cliche, but uh I recommend it. And it's uh when you get to that moment, it's it's great. It's great. Yeah, it feels good. Awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I feel like this was a little spirituality tattoo. This is great in here. Yeah, I appreciate your vibe and thank you for coming on. We're gonna go to reading up. That's it. Goodbye, everyone.