(Help Me) Color Your World

so here a while back I finally got the apprenticeship I had been hoping for. Went great for about 4 weeks then the tattoo shop closed. Now I'm out 2500 bucks and only gained limited knowledge from the whole experience. I can line, no problem, but I'm having issues with colors. I just opened up a shop out of my house (not a scratcher, let me explain). I got my new equipment in 2 days ago and just got my clean room set up this morning. Since then I've done six (non-color) tattoos.I had one client talking about returning to me for a small solid color piece, but now I have an issue... I'm not sure on color. I practiced on myself earlier with minor results but as far as solid color I just couldn't get it to stick without multiple passes. I'm using a hybrid machine with 10 wrap coils for my shader, 13RS needles, around 8 volts, and slightly less than a nickle spark gap. I remember that much from the apprenticeship because that was my next lesson (yes I plan to get another apprenticeship after I make enough money). Any tips and or tricks would be greatly appreciated. Also for those of you who know the NC laws - YES, I have a health department inspection set up for tomorrow and have a temporary permit for today's operations.