I’m Chris Toms
A professional tattoo artist with 20 years in the industry. Seeing what’s happening in the tattoo industry today doesn’t surprise me. These are just the effects of problems I’ve been aware of for years. The biggest issue isn’t artistic skill — it’s the lack of understanding of the business side of tattooing. Most tattooers don’t realize that being a professional tattoo artist means you’re a self-employed small business owner. With that comes responsibilities far beyond just showing up to tattoo. Too many artists still treat tattooing like a “job,” and that mindset limits them. I know because I was stuck in it for years — and it cost me a lot of income and time early in my career. Nobody ever taught me how to run a business as a tattooer. That knowledge just didn’t exist in our world. I started tattooing during the Great Recession, and for the first 5–7 years, I struggled to survive — the “starving artist” label fit perfectly. Everything changed around 2014, when I read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. That book opened the door to everything I’d been missing in business, economics, marketing, and investing. I went all in — studying, experimenting, failing, learning, and rebuilding. Looking back, I wish I could go tell my apprentice-self to start learning that side immediately. When I eventually took on my own apprentice, I made sure she didn’t repeat my mistakes. Once her tattoos were solid, I taught her how to build a foundation — business structure, money management, and growth. She was a homeowner under the age 25 and staying busy even during these rough times in the industry, all because she learned the business early. That’s when I knew I had to share this knowledge on a bigger scale.
Why I Built Tattooer Entrepreneur
I spent over a decade and thousands of dollars figuring this out, so you don’t have to. Tattooer Entrepreneur condenses all that experience, trial, and research into one complete system that helps professional artists build stable, profitable, and sustainable businesses. My goal is simple: to help tattooers break out of the feast-or-famine cycle and create long-term financial stability doing what they love. The earlier you start, the faster you’ll see results — but it’s never too late to turn things around.
There’s no secret to making money.
It’s about discipline, consistency, and strategy — understanding your numbers, knowing what works, and sticking with it long enough to see it grow. Just like tattooing, mastery takes time. The more you invest in learning, the better you get — and the faster you can charge what you’re worth. The truth is, making $100,000 or more a year tattooing isn’t that hard — when you understand your numbers, run your business strategically, and stay consistent. Most artists simply don’t realize how close they already are to that goal; they just need the systems and structure to make it happen. The key is to keep improving, stay consistent, and reinvest in yourself and your business. When the metrics trend up, the money follows. Hard work pays off — always has, always will.
 "The best investment you can make, is an investment in yourself... Anything you invest in yourself, you get back tenfold."
-Warren Buffett
It took me a year to put this course together while tattooing full-time and being a father of two. I thought long and hard before taking this step, but I know it’s worth it. Tattooing has given me a good life — and this is my way of giving back to the industry that shaped me. The tattoo world is evolving. We’re in a reinvention phase — and that’s a good thing. If you plan to stay in this industry, it’s time to adapt, learn the business, and build the career your art deserves.
