Choppin it up with Speakeasy Tattoo Co.

Dustin Steffey: 0:00

This episode is brought to you by speakeasy tattoo company located in Fernley, Nevada. That's at 420 East Main Street Fernley Nevada. There's nobody else I'd rather go to when it comes to my tattoo needs between the experience of the whole staff, the creativity, the knowledge, and the overall dedication to making sure that your piece looks good. There's no better tattoo parlor than speakeasy tattoo company so please, if you haven't done so already, check them out at www dot Speak Easy tat CO that's Speak Easy ta TTC o.com and book an appointment today.

Jaden Norvell: 0:54

Welcome to your top rated business entrepreneurship, self development and smart investment podcast. This podcast is hosted by creator and founder Dr. Dustin Steffey and also hosted by coach, music producer and influencer yours truly Jaden rush Norville, we are blessed for many accolades such as being nominated for the People's Choice Award for Best Business Podcast, as well as raising over $5,000 last year for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation as well as for the Boys and Girls Club, spending a global reach our podcasts in the top four downloads in four countries. Without further ado, welcome to chopping wood fire ladies and gentlemen, let's chop it up

Dustin Steffey: 1:35

guys, welcome to a live show. My first one and the start of our small business segments. I wanted to sit down with a speakeasy tattoo company in Fernley, Nevada, first and foremost, but before we dive into that interview, hit that damn like button, because it's not hard to do. So you see the finger in the center here, hit the like button already. And then you know, the other ones didn't make it, we cut them off, but definitely got that middle one. If you're on YouTube, the little bell, go ahead and hit that bell. So you get updates. And then go ahead and take it a step further, and type out some content content on the comments saying you liked it. So with that being said, the last thing I want to bring up is is our home charities are cystic fibrosis, because Jason's mom has cystic fibrosis. And for those of you that don't know what it is, try putting a straw on your lungs and breathe in through that doesn't feel very good. Can't really breathe really well. So please help us out in raising some money for cystic fibrosis. And then another good one that we have is the Boys and Girls Club, that that entity right there has done so much for our kids. And they need help. And it's important that if we have any spare money we give back and kind of keep these organizations going or else we're not going to have them for very long, especially in these times. So please, if you guys haven't done so already, head on over to C F F dot o RG forward slash donate or head on over to bgbc.org Sports slash donate to donate to the Boys and Girls Club today. With that being said, we're going to kick this off. So I'm here with Abel to my left. Manny to my right. He was going to wear the sunglasses, we're going to crack some blind jokes but decided not to. Especially since we're sitting in a tattoo parlor, you guys would have been like, hey, whoa, how's the blind one tattoo you? And I was like, Well, I'm the idiot, remember? So you sat tuned on me. But no, like, I just want you all to know, like, first and foremost, it's it's actually a pleasure to have them both. It's awesome that we are starting this small business segment. And I'm glad to kick it off with them. Because I mean, they got a lot say a lot of jokes to crack, Abel. You wouldn't think it is pretty funny. Manny you wouldn't think it he's kind of funny. But not funny. No funnybone whatsoever. But no, I want to just dive right in. First and foremost, the get from this is to understand his small business, so many small business, but to to understand how entrepreneurship works in general, because it's not easy. I think everybody thinks like when you go into small business, like you have more time on your hands and you can do fun things which it's true to a certain point once you get it rolling, but the fact of the matter is to get it rolling to that point takes years and years and years and lots of blood sweat and tears. So it's important that we kind of outline that as well. So I'm going to kind of start this off with like, hey Dustin, you're in a tattoo shop so why why there well One, they sponsor me, it's awesome, we have a good partnership and relationship. I've grown to like these guys a lot, I have a good dozen pieces on me right now from this place alone. And honestly, for me, I'm pretty loyal to it because I don't want to go anywhere else, I think the creativity out of the shop alone, and the way that it's run, and the people and like kind of everything in compasses, like a good place a safe space and a creative place to get something done that you're enjoying like, because again, for those of you that don't know, these aren't the sticker tattoos that like come off, they're on you forever. So you kind of want it to look good. And these, these two, plus everyone else that works here couldn't have them all on, but they take pride in making sure that when you walk out that damn door, you're you're walking out with something that you like. And furthermore, you're walking out into the public where people can be like, Where'd that happen? Where do you get that? Because guess what, you can't get custom pieces like this anywhere else. And certainly I'm sorry, but it's factual to me. So I'm gonna hand it off to Manny, I kind of want him to kind of go through his journey real quick on like, why did he get started here? When did he acquire it? Because I think a lot of people weren't sure of this place to begin with, because of people that were here in the past or whatnot. And this isn't a negative talk. This is just like, hey, it's a new era. And it's time to move forward. So Manny, it's all yours, buddy.

Manny: 6:33

Well, thank you, Dustin, for having us on. I really appreciate it. And I'd like to take the time to say thank you to Abel also on camera, because he's been a big help to everyone here in the shop, including myself and everyone in accounting to really like them. So again, hey, well, thank you. So sorry, my face. Yeah, so I've been tattooing for about 15 years, 15 years solid legal on 16. It's been a journey. I thought about quitting a few times. Maybe I should have at some point I'm gonna share. But here we are. Early Nevada. I came into the shop about two years ago. It was someone else's shop. And it was someone else's shop before that. And it kind of picked up some negativity, some just kind of a little dark cloud around it. And that's something we've been combating for the last couple of years here. And it's just trying to look over it look past it. It's been rough. But with that being said, you got to rely on your skills and you got to push forward.

Dustin Steffey: 7:31

So April, April's not from here. But he has some extensive experience as well. So from from our conversations, you Cali to East Coast back to here, right? You've been tattooing for 15 years. Yeah. So again, you combine both of their experience right there. I mean, that's 30 plus years, right there between two of them. And we're not even counting other artists that are here, which I mean, we have, we have melody which she's she's just starting out right. But she's amazing. Had a sick turnaround for Friday, the 13th had some awesome, awesome tattoos that came out. So I mean, we're, we're putting out some good stuff here in my opinion, and then we can't forget about Bri too. She does piercings, but she also is dabbling in tattoos as well. Yes, Bree

Manny: 8:22

has been in this industry her whole life. She's amazing, phenomenal piercer. Man, I can't say enough great things about her great with the kids. And yes, she does know how to build a needle around to one skin with some ape. She's learning but has some good skills.

Dustin Steffey: 8:39

Yeah. So let me ask you guys something because I mean, so I'm not new to tattoos, obviously. But what I am new to is the loyalty, the creativity, the environment part, right. And so I kind of want to dive into that a little bit. So as far as environment, how would you guys say the environment is here? Like when you come in to get a tattoo you? What do you what should people expect?

Manny: 9:05

First of all, the air freshener is amazing. Air Freshener is pretty chill, I'd say we try to keep low tension. Like if we're having this frustrating session or a piece, you know, it just kind of out the window. You know, we really try to keep the focus in the artwork. I know we talked about it all the time. It's a 24/7 thing. It doesn't stop.

Abel: 9:32

Yeah, it's a it's a fun environment. But I don't really screw around too much. We can be pretty professional. We have our jokes, but I mean, we get things done. It's not a party environment. It's just a fun environment.

Dustin Steffey: 9:42

So for those of you that haven't walked in, to get a tattoo or don't have a tattoo or been wanting to get a tattoo or whatever the case may be wherever you are in your journey. Here's it from my perspective. When I walk into here first and foremost, I feel comfortable, because, I mean, I could get what Ever I want on me because it's my piece, right? And there isn't really any judgment. But obviously don't. Don't go over the top. Don't be asinine about something. But for the most part, there's no, no judgement. One, two, I love the environment. Because when you walk in, like, I mean, we'll throw jokes out, we'll, we'll have some fun. I mean, I think the last time I was in the chair, I was able over here, this clown was making me laugh. And, and Manny sitting there taking one line at a time on my tattoo that I'm not going to show you guys yet until we're done with it. It is so stay tuned. But we were doing the beard of it. And so he was doing one line at a time. And this asshole over here was making me laugh. So I was shaking. And he's like, Well, we just messed it up. But in all actuality, it's it looks really good right now. It's a fun environment. I love it here. I think, honestly, when you walk into a tattoo shop, you should feel comfortable, you should feel welcome. You should feel okay to ask questions. Like there isn't anything dumb when it comes to putting something permanent on your body. And these guys, and of course, girls, because we got two girls to they, they understand that and they respect that. So like, first and foremost, it's not scary at all. Secondly, like if you want something super custom, super nice. I mean, these guys can do pretty much anything I'm sitting by to two guys here that have orchards. Um, yeah, okay. Okay. Okay, they will get it. We'll get into like specifics in a sec. But like, for the most part, most of the stuff here isn't cookie cutter. So it isn't like it was back in the 90s or early 2000s. Where you walk in, you look at a portfolio and you're like, oh, I want a or I want number 150 or whatever. McDonald's. Yeah, yeah. Now they do have some cool stuff that they just recently integrated. So they have a cool little like egg machine, where you go and you like put a coin in. And whatever you draw, is what you get on you, which I think is really cool. And it's like, put some mystery behind things. But if you're looking for that, like really cool, like super specific piece to you, between the experience that's here. I know. It'll get done perfectly talk to us. Yeah, absolutely. They. They're awesome. I think everything is you know, perfect for here. I wanted to get into though because there are specifics right. So like for me as a person. I really like shading, right I like the shaded pieces are the pieces where you like put lighting on it where if it hits a certain way like it really shows the details. I'm gonna get into specifics with these two. So like Manny, for you, like you've been tattooing a while. I know there's certain style that you like, I know, there's certain things that you like to do. Let's kind of talk about that a little bit. I know we have a bio for him, right. So if you want the cookie cutter bio, just head on over to speakeasy tapco.com But we're diving into the nitty gritty right now.

Manny: 13:09

So I first started I had a real big love for the old school American traditional. And the Japanese stuff like a lot of us do. Because I had grown up seeing black and gray and all my uncle's from prison and crap. You know, all that stuff. Yeah. So when I first started tattooing, I gave the attempt at the Japanese and the American stuff. And I didn't think I understood it as well. But nowadays, I like to go back to it. I still love black and gray, though. It's like a toss up American tradition on Japanese. Michael Gray. I don't, I don't know. Kind of integrative I guess.

Dustin Steffey: 13:43

And when we unveil my tattoo, which we will, we'll probably unveil it. I have my last session for that piece up here. This this coming week. So he says to but I'm a badass, so I'm thinking one. Yeah, this guy. He has jokes right now. Anyway. So we'll show you kind of that super cool, like black, white and gray. And it'll look really cool. April. What about you, dude? Like, I mean, I've dove into a few things with you. But you're, you bring some cool things like to the table that are different.

Abel: 14:18

Yeah. So gosh, I can I put this I can do any tattoo you want. I just choose not to do color portraits, and tribal. Anything else you want, man, I can do it all but I'm just not 100% comfortable with color portraits. I can do color realism, just the portraits. I don't want them to come out looking orange. Tribal, it just tends to be a little too boring for me. Once you draw it out on someone and you outline it, it's just filling in. It's just a little too boring. Other than that, I mean, I can do whatever else you guys want. But at the end of the day that always ends up being my style. Do you want traditional it's April's traditional style. Do you want Japanese? It's April style of Japanese stuff. But yeah, I don't Yeah, I mean, we can all do. Every artist here can do whatever style you want. But I think we all choose not to do ones that are just too boring for us, or they don't push us or make us grow as a tribal, not going to push me or made me grow. You know, I'm doing Polynesian stuff that's a little more creative and the tribal stuff. And then color portraits. I just don't want someone to get an orange looking person. That's it. Yeah, so we

Manny: 15:30

just call it an orange Smurf. I'm gonna I'm gonna interrupt. All right, all right. I'm gonna assume Abel, his tattoos? Are those motherfucking Instagram tattoos that everyone likes to look at? Everyone goes, Oh my God, look at those delicate little lines. That's April right here. Okay, he's cutting it short. He's phenomenal. You guys.

Dustin Steffey: 15:48

begin speaking on Instagram guys, please head on over to speakeasy TAPCO and hit that follow button because there's a lot of cool things that are on there. So that Speak Easy tat to T A T T C O. Go ahead and hit them up. Hit a like on there follow whatever, whatever you kids do these days, but make sure Yeah, I mean, our DMS. Yeah. Hell yeah. Like seriously,

Abel: 16:14

I don't have a I don't think we have a tick tock, right.

Dustin Steffey: 16:17

We do. We do. We do. We have. Hey, they haven't run it yet. But they will soon enough. I promise for those of you. For those of you that are making fun of my tic TOCs. Right now more to come because that style is headed over years. So that's why Yeah. Emails, yeah. They actually able able, he responds really well, if you send him a pigeon. And then this guy, this guy, he'll respond two days late, maybe like in 24 to 68 hours. So yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But no, all joking aside, please like head on over and see some of their work, because it's definitely some of that work is posted on the Instagram, they have Facebook as well. They do have emails for each of the separate artists. So for all of my locals, please, please head on over

Abel: 17:08

I think that'll be on the on the website. Everyone's like, Instagram and all that stuff. Yeah,

Dustin Steffey: 17:14

I think it'll be on the Yep. Yep, it will. It's in the works right now. April. So April, on the opposite end of the spectrum. He's always busy. So we're just waiting on his right to say, I'm not. I wrote. I wrote his forehand, so he got lucky. No, but, but um, let's, let's shift gears a little bit. You're running your own tattoo shop. Yes. So that's entrepreneurship in itself right there. But this isn't the first time you've been an entrepreneur. Is it because you were you were doing mechanics and stuff as well too.

Manny: 17:51

And that's, that's wearing your slave chains. Okay, so

Dustin Steffey: 17:54

that's the slave job versus cutting those ties. Alright, so this is your personal

Manny: 17:59

nine to five. Okay, first cracking. Okay, so ownership.

Dustin Steffey: 18:03

So talk about it a little bit. So,

Manny: 18:05

I know some people are gonna disagree, but like, the way I was working, I was working underground out of the house for a while towards the end there. It was really similar to the shop just the way it was operating, you know. And I moved out here to Nevada man and opportunity arose and the old owner left and I took over and it's been pretty good since then. It's just staying on top of orders. Now. The busy season, you know, I think will be the fun part.

Dustin Steffey: 18:31

What do you think the hardest part like in your perspective, because everybody has a different perspective. And I'll chime in mind soon, but like for you, in your entrepreneurial journey, what's the hardest part of it for you right now is stepping

Manny: 18:43

off the ledge. Okay. Okay, first step to like being on your own. Okay. It's scary because you don't know what's on the other side. You know, your union job. You're gonna get a paycheck. Yep. Yeah, that's gonna happen. You know, you're gonna kids, you're gonna have Yep, it's, but you step into your own realm. And it's scary. Yeah. But it's also freeing, and it's a wonderful feeling, man, because it's your own world.

Dustin Steffey: 19:07

It's a different stress in my opinion. So when I look at it, I'm like, happier because I'm doing something I'm passionate about. On one hand, yes. But on the other hand, I feel like I'm more stressed because I'm backed against the corner to be successful.

Manny: 19:23

Well, you're feeling that 24/7 Yeah,

Dustin Steffey: 19:25

yeah, yeah, sleep. Nope. Nope. Isn't sleep. I go to bed with nightmare. Sometimes. That shit.

Manny: 19:32

I need some air freshener. Yeah.

Dustin Steffey: 19:35

Mind you when you walk in the air fresheners. Great here.

Abel: 19:39

Yeah, honestly, I think when you do some that you really enjoy. I think you shoot too much for perfection. Yeah, I agree. And that's where you get stressed out. Perfect, man. This is Manny shots. The 10 teams are Manny's tattoo. You can't point fingers and be like, Oh, it was that guy that didn't you know, help or that guy? Whatever. Nope. It's 100% you so you shoot too much for perfection, perfection. And I think that's what's stressing me out. Sometimes.

Dustin Steffey: 20:05

I believe 100 I believe 100% that we are our own harshest critic, I believe in that statement,

Manny: 20:12

dude. I was putting out for a minute. I wasn't happy with everything I was putting out to him for a minute. And I was like, Okay, let me help. Like, we had some apprentices. Yeah, that needed some help at the time. So I tried to focus on that a little bit. Yeah. And it helped, you know, like refreshing Jeter like, oh, yeah, remember this? Okay, I can do this. Now. Let me let me get back to it's a different approach. Right. But that that staying fresh aspect in the business is important. Staying in touch with the youth, especially? Because that's our driving force. We can tattoo at 16 Yep. So yep, that's a market. You know, it's important California, you're gonna get 20 to 25. Smart ass.

Dustin Steffey: 20:52

Yeah, this is gonna restrict in California, you probably can't get a tattoo anymore. You'll go to jail,

Abel: 20:57

whatever, in California 18. If you're under 18, you can't even walk into it. Yet. It's ridiculous. Even if you're coming in with a friend or your parents to make an appointment, you can't even walk in to the shots. I was telling

Manny: 21:08

Abel this the other day, I said to him a few times. I've been tattooing for 15 years going on 16. But I've always been a business owner to something new for me, and I'm enjoying it. Yeah, it's the stress is the strategy, you have to take the you know, everything the good, the bad. You know, the freedom, the stress of the busy season, I like it.

Dustin Steffey: 21:30

And little Do you guys know, I'm going to shift the gear over to April. April's around his own business too. So he knows about entrepreneurship and stuff, too. So I'm gonna I'm going to shift the question to you like in your mind for you. What do you think your hardest point was being an entrepreneur and really running your own business?

Abel: 21:51

Not failing? Yeah, that's the big Yeah, just failing that, you know, you think you're doing something good. And then yeah, you open your shop and nobody shows up. Or it starts slowing down. You know, you start doubting yourself. Especially like Manny said, it's not a guarantee check. So if I have a slow week, it's it's a low paycheck. If it's a busy one, then you know, it's high. It always fluctuates. But I think the hardest was just not not failing, or making sure that you don't fail. I mean, you know, there's ways you can talk to customers, and there's certain ways you can sell certain ideas to them. But at the end of the day, I think the biggest fear is not failing your business, because then you feel like you've failed yourself and everybody else around. But that's the hardest part for me was, customers are easy. The tattoos are easy. Let's just make it all run smoothly. Get comfy

Manny: 22:37

chair, man. Yep.

Dustin Steffey: 22:40

So I know I don't interject very much about my journey at all, because I'm always interviewing, right. But for me, you all probably think I know everything about it with all the experts we've had on what we talk about with networking and everything. And yes, book smart, like, I know what it takes to run a business. But for me, I'm always overwhelmed with I gotta do this, or I need to get more marketing, or how do I make enough money to be able to keep the business rollin just to survive? Or, or did I miss that, or whatever the case may be, it's constantly like Manny said, and even able, it's 24/7 gig, right? And so I go to sleep, sometimes, like shit, did I forget to do that, or I should have done this better. So for me, my biggest stress is not being perfect, per se, but making sure that I was thorough enough to drive my content, one to all of you guys, but to the driving force of why did I start doing this? And the whole point of this for me, is to educate other young young or older entrepreneurs, on some techniques, skills, marketing, whatever to do it right. Or for my investment people that investments like diversifying, right, you are not going to be don't be that idiot that invest in one thing, and then all of a sudden it flops and now you have nothing you need to diversify. And in business, it's kind of the same thing. We have to diversify our time, our energy and everything to make that business run and work I mean, for Manny, he's so intelligent when it comes to like creative ideas, but executing them in a different way. So like the marketing like you guys are seeing with speakeasy right now the marketing just started driving a lot more recently because he needed the time to be able to like sit back and say how do I want to appropriately market and how do I want to do it right? Because there is no one size fits all solution

Manny: 24:43

when you get to this plateau. Right? You you like you feel good? Like man, I got a business. Yeah, I'm self sustainable. I'm holding my family and food on the table, and then it just kind of halts and you're like, Damn, what next? Yep. So then you have a choice. You can stay there where you're at and be happy or you can continue your growth. Yep, still be happy.

Dustin Steffey: 25:03

Yep, you can push to that next level. And it's no secret guys, marketing is probably in my opinion, the well, it's the most important, but it's the second most expensive in my opinion, maybe even the first most expensive as

Manny: 25:18

paper towels.

Dustin Steffey: 25:21

So if you're running a normal business, I think your marketing budget is probably the most expensive budget because that's what gets your name out there. For them. It's a little different because their name gets out there not only by marketing, but by like, word of mouth and the people that go out with their work and stuff like that. And people ask him, dude, that's cool. Where'd you get that and then you start talking there and then it snowballs

Manny: 25:46

Dustin's a rarity, because we actually get to see the work come back. So it's not like they're out of state or they're traveling or you just don't like, Oh, I got my one that I'm done with. And they they're done, you know, but we try to give them a good one for repeats. We try to keep giving you good ones.

Dustin Steffey: 26:00

Right. And for those of you that have been on my TED talk, so a lot of like, we have a couple of tiktoks with me in the chair with some of these pieces. And it's it's really fun. It's it's fun to market that out. Because it's different. I don't see very many tattoo shops marketing in that way. And it's, it's like new school. It's New Age. It's bringing different people in and it's fun. Yeah. I mean, I had a few comments come back like, Dude, did it hurt or like funny? Shit coming back, right? And I'm like, Dude, this is this awesome. Like, I think that brings the next point, right? In business for us all. Like, change is inevitable. Oh, there's a lot of businesses that flop I think, because they're just not willing to change, in my opinion. And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in this environment now. And in this instant gratification culture, like changes even quicker.

Abel: 26:53

I'll give you a perfect example of somebody who failed because they didn't change Kmart. They didn't change anything. It was always the same, the same register the same aisles. Nothing ever grew. The pictures they had on the wall were from like the 80s. They never ever changed. And they're out of business.

Dustin Steffey: 27:11

April's dating himself with Kmart. So I'll just bring up Mervyn's as well too. And

Abel: 27:18

change from St. Louis, I mean, I can do the same type of my tattoos should be changing a little bit every year improving, or the style should be changed. In some sense. That's a bad thing. That's if people go somewhere else they want what's new.

Dustin Steffey: 27:33

The other respect I have for these tools as well is like, for those of you that have gotten a tattoo, I'm sure most of you have seen the machines that are used, right. And most of them are those coil machines. I mean, I've not seen a wireless one until walking into this shop. And so like even the technology, like that's important, and Manny and Abel are like really good at explaining why that's so important. Whereas I'm not but it makes the tattoo like it doesn't make it any less painful, but it makes it heal better in my opinion. Like I heal faster with their stuff than I did with any other tattoo artists because of the way that they tattoo in the technology.

Manny: 28:16

Seven Day heal now is pretty common. I remember two weeks, they used to tell weeks, two weeks a week. So like we're seeing like flake, the skin flake and the dry patches go away after three days now with the newer stuff we're using. And it's just technologies, it's learning that learning it how to be delicate, you know, you gotta gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet. Right?

Dustin Steffey: 28:39

So and that's the other important thing to drive to maybe some of you new people that have never gotten a tattoo or anything as well, too is would you rather go to a place that's not transparent, and doesn't really like tell you about how the process goes and then you get a piece on you and eventually it's like not good? Or would you rather go to a place that is up to date on technology has 30 plus years of creative experience has the know how of how to work the machines appropriately to make sure that that tattoo looks the best like that. These are the things that you guys all have to start doing your research on, especially new people that want to get there like first step to and whatnot. Where do you want to go? Like it isn't about loyalty. So much as it's about doing your research on? Does this artist not only is this artist creative, but do they use the right technology now to make my tattoo last a lifetime right? I have pieces on me that are gonna last a lifetime.

Abel: 29:37

I think just maybe I think 10 years ago there was still metal and some of the inks Oh, yeah. Even the inks are still growing. Yeah, and

Manny: 29:45

now everything we have in here like I didn't even know it until recently vegan saying like I just I'm just like by accident, but like everything

Dustin Steffey: 29:52

Oh for all my earth friendly people. We have vegan Safestop so please drop in

Abel: 29:57

all the things we have or are vegan. Yeah. Been around for Senator vegan. Everything we use Yeah,

Dustin Steffey: 30:05

I wish I could unreal it right now but like the tattoo up here like it's dark like the blacks are like black black, and the shading looks amazing like, soon enough guys, you're gonna have to just think about it for a little bit until we get it done

Manny: 30:20

might not be one of April's fancy Instagrams because that dude, I'm telling you those fine lines, man. Yeah,

Dustin Steffey: 30:26

this is where we get the specifics. Yeah, yeah.

Manny: 30:30

So fat are on the line work, but his delicate lines, man. Yeah, like

Abel: 30:34

I said, we can all do the tattoo. It just depends what style you're into. Well, you know, melody has a style Mani me.

Dustin Steffey: 30:42

Melody is not in the video right now. But I just want you all to know if we go about 10 clicks to my lap this way. She hears us and she's tattooing someone right now. She's in it. Yeah, she is. She is She is. She wants she wants to be on camera so bad, but can't

Manny: 31:00

put her makeup on? She said, Yeah.

Dustin Steffey: 31:03

What's the lighting in here? She said she wants real bright lights where it's on her. And that's it.

Abel: 31:08

Green light right here.

Dustin Steffey: 31:09

A ring light on the beach. Actually, her comment to us pre roll was if she were in the camera with us, she would take all the attention away from us. So that's why she's not here. It's true. It's probably pretty true. So moustache, right? We're trying to focus it on this this strapping old fart

Manny: 31:28

not having to wear a hat because the shine, you know,

Dustin Steffey: 31:32

me, I have no excuses. You guys get my ugly mug weekly. So. But um, as far as business, I think the point that we're trying to reinforce here is this is not the same place it was a few years ago. One, two, there's so much creativity that's coming out of here. So don't be scared to like, pop in and see what they can do for you. Number two. And I think the third and most important thing, and this is for just the podcast as a whole is the fact that I'm in a tattoo shop, right? And it's still a place of business. And there's still entrepreneurship to be had. And even like, even though it's not like April's brick and mortar, he's still running his own business within a business. So there's so much entrepreneurship coming out of here, so much marketing, so many like trials and tribulations. And so it's just nice to reinforce a local small business and kind of talk about, like, what's going on right now. So, I mean, please LIKE if you haven't done so already, I'm going to harp on this, like I harp on mine, head on over to their social media, they have a Facebook and Instagram tiktoks on hold for a second until we just a little smidge we're gonna, I think we're gonna make a we'll do the TIC TOCs. Because at least he's funny. So yeah, yeah. And then we do have a website, which I want to point out the website, if you go to www dot speakeasy TAPCO that's Speak Easy T A T T c o.com. Over there, that's going to house not only this video once it hosts, but it's going to house tattoo bios, it's going to host links to their Instagram so you can kind of see the work and the creativity, we're going to have pictures and stills of the shop as well too. So that way, you can kind of see some of the technology, what the shops about and all that stuff. And most importantly has a booking key there that has access to everybody's email separately if there's a certain style you gravitate towards, and the shop phone number and address because for all of you people that still use GPS or don't know where anything is you should pop that address out of the GPS into

Manny: 33:41

like I'm being 100% serious with this. I have in the shop we have in the shop probably one of the baddest badass piercings in the area. No joke. Yeah, three. This girl is amazing. Like don't go to Reno don't go out to Fallon, come right here. To Fernley, Nevada signs up. She's amazing. She's amazing. You guys great with the kids. She's She's phenomenal. Come see us

Dustin Steffey: 34:06

guys. The time that I'm in the chair. More often than not, I see more people coming in for piercings from her than anywhere else. She is probably in my opinion, not only the best infernally, but probably one of the best in the state to be honest with you and that, that that's just awesome. Right? So if you want a good quality piercing, I mean, seriously consider her and and look at her picture, too. She has piercings all over. So yeah, all cells done and they look great. So I mean, seriously, like, take a look at everybody's portfolio. I challenge you guys to do that. The site is about 90% Done. It'll be done probably by the time this video posts listing the kinks out. Yep, we are definitely we're working on getting a few things that are missing. And those elements will be on there soon.

Manny: 34:56

It's my fault, not his.

Abel: 34:57

No. One thing I want to say about Bri is You know, she's also growing. So she's starting to look into like doing, like, a little bit more extreme stuff.

Dustin Steffey: 35:07

Like the tongue splitting and stuff, right? Yeah, yeah.

Manny: 35:11

Yeah. So she's working on that we've got some stuff in the works, guys. So

Abel: 35:14

same with our beautiful you know, she's grown too. Yeah,

Manny: 35:17

you can never stay the same man can't stay the same and in the business period,

Dustin Steffey: 35:22

always got to grow. So I already told you about their social medias and stuff in the website. But now I'm going to harp on mine. For those of you that I see ghosting yourself in the background and stuff because I see that stuff. Make sure you hit that like button that subscribe button, send me some comments. Maybe I get lonely over here without any comments to respond to. That's at chopping with fire that ch o p p i n w i t h f i r e, and then my website, same thing WWW dot chopping with feiyr.com. Again, they're a sponsor of mine as well too. So everything links in intertwines within itself. So if you get one of our websites down, at least you're gonna get both, like an orgy of links, it is an orgy of links and this orgies the fun orgy. So is there any? So actually, no, I like being creative. So I'm going to let you guys do this, because I let everybody do this. If there's one solid piece of information that you can leave, to my subscribers and listeners about entrepreneurship and about going down the road and journey, or whatever the case may be, what is it that you want to lead to them and impress upon them? Each

Manny: 36:32

player teach a player that's how players learn? Okay, Abel,

Abel: 36:36

I was gonna say, just make sure whatever business you go into, go into it, because you love it. And I promise you, the money will come you don't chase the money that that will come. You will, because you love it and the money will show up.

Dustin Steffey: 36:49

Yeah, just for me be consistent, right? Show up every day, be consistent. Don't, don't quit because it's getting hard, like, be consistent and keep going. Because eventually that consistency is going to pay off in dividends. Those dividends are going to increase in new investments, those investments are gonna pay you in the long run. So yeah, I agree, guys, it was a pleasure. I liked this video. I think it was fun. I think it's fun doing small business and local stuff. So thank you both. Thank you. Appreciate it. And for all of you out there, I hope you enjoyed it. This is the first of many for the small business segments that are run at the end of the month. So thank you all we might get lucky into a second. Maybe even a third. I don't know. I mean, again, we have an orgy of links

Abel: 37:34

question the q&a one Yeah, well, good.

Dustin Steffey: 37:37

Yeah. Yeah, maybe maybe eventually as you guys as we evolve like we'll do a q&a coming back and maybe we can get some listener support too and kind of have some people that are like around with us. Yeah, live videos live Yeah. So more to come. We might actually do some videos where they're actually like have someone in the chair as long as they can the person in the chair consents and we can kind of

Manny: 37:59

show you a will stand up and that will be tight.

Dustin Steffey: 38:02

For me maybe maybe I'll start with me because you all you are used to me being in the chair, I consent so we can do something fun but more to come on this again, guys. Thank you