tattoo shop

My husband and I are investors. We have been approached by a well-known tattoo artist with 20 years plus of experience about opening up a tattoo shop. We would only handle the financial side of the business; we would own the property, do ordering, handle payroll, ect… The artist would have control of the floor. Does this seem foolish or can you make enough money to sustain a shop if you are not an artist? Let me know what you think, I would greatly appreciate any input you have. Thanks, Christa

It's not worth the risk for you. One thing goes bad and he can screw you in so many ways it's unconcievable. Even take the Property ! Even with a contract,it's only worth as much as who signs it. Investors have tryed to screw me many times.Artists have too. If he has been well known for 20 Yrs, why would he need a few measley thousand dollars? Fair warning, jerryboy

The reasons I run a successful tattoo studio without being a tattoo artist is because Ive spent 10 years or more promoting tattoo artists and creating a solid network of friends and colleagues, havnt taken a paycheck from the studio in over 6 months, and have a bunch of massive websites to help bring people through the door. As a business person and a tattoo person I would say that unless you plan on diving into the tattoo industry yourself (you cant rely on any one artist without playing Russian roulette with your business) leave it to those who have done so. In short, due to the nature of tattooing someone's body for the rest of their life the tattoo waters are very unforgiving, you need to know the waters well. I might lend money to an artist with a payment plan and what-not, ie play the roll of bank giving a 5-8% business loan, but I wouldnt plan on investing to make money.

Thanks for the input. I think you are right; it’s a lot of risk. I think for now I’ll stick to getting the ink and leave the rest for another day. I really appreciate the feedback though. It’s not a field I know much about it just sounded like to much fun not to consider it. Christa