“Yeah, have a good rest of your day, man. See you next week to finish that up,” I say, nodding at my client as he walks out of the shop.

It’s around 3pm now, and I exhale as I rest my forearms on the glass front desk, flipping through the book to see what appointments are left for the day. I nod my head absentmindedly along with the bass filled music coming faintly through the speakers, the only other noise in the shop besides the whir of tattoo machines and chatter in the back.

I just opened my own tattoo shop a few weeks ago in a suite I’m renting out downtown, and business has been picking up pretty good lately. I run the place with my friends Louis and Zayn, plus a few other artists we hired. We have a steady clientele already and things are moving along better than I expected.