Two and a half years ago, Micki and Jiji Sturkey opened OceanViewBodyArt in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and they haven’t looked back since. Atlantic City, known as the second Las Vegas, provides the couple with numerous beach resorts and events throughout the summer months. After five years of searching for an activity, Micki and Jiji stumbled across airbrush tattoos and Atlantic City. Surprisingly enough, no one else had yet made the connection. They decided it was a match made in heaven, bought an Entrepreneur System, and the rest is history.

The Sturkeys started working at fairs, festivals, and their own mall kiosk, and were amazed at how fast the business took off! Of course, success does not happen overnight, but the Sturkeys were ready for that. “We have so much fun doing this and making people happy. Even though some of the days are long, and there are a few stumbling blocks that tend to get in our way, we keep our heads up and keep going!”

The best part of OceanViewBodyArt’s location is that they have the good fortune of doing their events directly on the beach next to the ocean and the boardwalk. This weekend, for example, they will be working at a Monster Truck event, held right on the beach.

Micki and Jiji certainly know what they’re doing when it comes to airbrush tattoos. They’re not afraid to try some different effects or use a little creativity when applying tats because they know that the goal is to make the customer happy. Their attitude is, “Anyone who has the desire and the will can and will be good at this if you work at it,” and they work at it every day.

“All the Right Things for All the Right Reasons – One Day at a Time”

To learn more about Micki and Jiji, visit their website at www.OceanViewBodyArt.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

A little over a year ago, Lipscomb took her granddaughter to a fair in Helen, Georgia. They found a temporary airbrush tattoo booth, and her granddaughter had to have one. While the tatist was spraying the tat, Lipscomb started talking with him about the industry. She says “[I] went home and started researching the tattoos, and one year later here we are.”

Lipscomb now owns GG’s Airbrush Tattoos in Pelzer, South Carolina, and has been doing business since last May. She travels to fairs, festivals, birthday parties, and school carnivals. Lately, Lipscomb and her business have also been working with Pickens County Special Needs and Disabilities. Once a month, she’ll go to their facility and do tats for them. She also is becoming involved with her local chapter of the American Cancer Society for Breast Cancer.

Not surprisingly, these are some of Lipscomb’s favorite shows. “Their faces always light up when they see the tat when you remove the stencil, and to me there is no greater joy than being able to make another person that happy if only for that moment.”

Her favorite piece of advice? Decide what you want, go for it, and never stop trying.

To learn more about Lipscomb, visit her website at www.GGsAirbrushTattoos.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

Miller’s business, Absolute Air, still focuses on airbrushing t-shirts, but he has been doing more and more airbrush tattoo gigs. Absolute Air travels to almost any event imaginable. From fundraisers to mitzvahs, birthday parties to corporate events, and sports tourneys to family reunions, Miller has seen it all.

At one of these events he learned that everyone needs something different to persuade them to get a tat. He was at a corporate bank event where he met an interesting older woman. She was “nice but stodgy,” he said, and she was hesitant to warm up to the idea of airbrush tattoos. Until, of course, she got a drink in her. Miller says, “Then she wanted a tribal dragon on her chest in a suggestive location. I did the tat a little higher up than her first choice!”

Although Miller is new to the airbrush tattoo industry, he applies what he has learned from 18 years of business. Throughout everything, Miller has remembered this: “Do not undervalue your work or discount it because no matter how much you have yet to learn about this business or any business, 99% of your customers have no clue how to do it and think you’re the greatest they’ve ever seen!”

If you have any questions, he would love to help you out. Just contact him at Info@AbsoluteAirbrush.com.

To learn more about Miller, visit his website at www.AbsoluteAirbrush.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

I received two tats in one day. They were done by the same person, with the same equipment, on the same place on my body (opposite sides), and with the same ink. Here are the pictures of the newly-finished tats:

For the next week, I maintained a regular schedule. I got normal amounts of sleep, exercised regularly, and showered nearly every day.

However, I did not treat these two tats the same. I sleep on my right side (the side with the sun), so I chose the butterfly to take proper care of. With the butterfly, I patted it with the washcloth in the shower, patted it dry with the towel, put baby powder on it afterward, and made a special effort to not drag my clothing over it when I dressed.

The sun was not so lucky. I dragged washcloths and towels and clothing over it, and I slept on it for 8 hours a night. One week later, these are the results:

Clearly, the sun is not doing so well. My conclusion? Not taking care of your tat does affect it. And consciously taking care of it has positive repercussions. Obviously, they both are much lighter than they were a week prior, but after being battered with daily exercise and showers, we cannot expect much better.

This is my testimonial to proper airbrush tattoo care. Do not rub it, do not scrub it, keep it dry, and you should have a long-lasting tat.

Fontanilla economically added to his kit through used equipment, and now he owns a full-blown business. Sneakyz TATz from Portage, Michigan can be found at any event where there’s money to be made. Rather than sticking to just a few designs, Fontanilla enjoys using creativity when applying tats. Some of his work is featured below.

One of Fontanilla’s favorite shows was The World Expo of Beer in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Sneakyz TATz was the only non-beer vendor at the Expo, which was full of fun-having adults sipping beer out of little mugs. The other favorite, while perhaps not as exciting, was a little more valuable. Fontanilla was hired for a bachelorette party with 20 young women—a little daunting, to say the least. However, “It made me realize how important it was to be professional and that I could still make it an enjoyable experience for all of us without crossing any boundaries.”

Always remaining professional is great advice for everyone, but Fontanilla has another fantastic piece to share: “Work to learn, not to earn. America is the land of dreams; it’s up to you to make them come true.”

To learn more about Fontanilla, visit his website at www.SneakyzTATz.net.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

Wisz has owned Look’ N Good Sunless Tanning & Body Art in Schererville, Indiana since February 2009, but he has been using airbrushes as a hobby for 20 years from t-shirts to models and now to tattoos. After some internet research, Wisz found the airbrush tattoo industry, and now he is taking his business to festivals, fairs, block parties, and birthday parties.

At one of these festivals, Wisz had his son with him to help clean stencils, etc, and his son became very interested in tats. During a break, Wisz taught him how to apply them. When a family approached the booth with a daughter who wanted a mermaid tat, Wisz jokingly asked if she wanted his son to apply it. She said yes, and the family thought it was cute so they agreed. Wisz says, “He tried his hardest not to mess up, and did not too bad of a job. He even took his own picture of it.” The girl loved her tat, which Wisz did not charge for, and everyone left smiling.

Wisz’s aunt told him 15 years ago, “Never, never, never, never, never give up!” And Wisz knows, “If I did not live by that advice, I would have never found TatStore, hence never started down my path to the palace of success.”

To learn more about Wisz, visit his website at www.LookNGood12.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

Entrekin started tatting with his parents three years ago when his mom acquired a Spectrum and TatStore stencils. He says he got involved with tats because he enjoys the creativity that tats offer, the freedom to own his own business, and the involvement with people. He says, “There is nothing like the light in a kid’s eye when he/she sees a finished TAT; it’s magical.”

Entrekin uses his creativity to go above and beyond the customers’ expectations, even if their expectations didn’t even include a tat. While working at the Kentucky Apple Festival, he overheard two teens joking about getting lower back tattoos that actually said, “Tramp Stamp.” He said, “Hey! I can do that,” and gave them both the ideal impulse tattoo: a temporary one.

Entrekin’s favorite piece of advice comes from his parents: “Don’t get discouraged when you’re having a slow or bad day. Your customers can sense the negative mood, and it will hurt your business. Just smile and act like you’re having a good time and it will happen.”

To learn more about Entrekin, visit his website at www.EtoolsTats.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

While Jason and Stacey do try to remain professional and family-friendly at every job, sometimes the customer has a different idea. The couple’s favorite show memory comes from a county fair, when an inebriated woman requested a playboy bunny on her chest. Unfortunately for Jason, who was applying the tat, the woman’s definition of “chest” kept moving lower. Even worse, the woman’s boyfriend was standing over them trying to hold the stencil down, but mostly just getting in the way. Needless to say, it was an unforgettable experience for both Jason and Stacey!

To learn more about Kentuckiana Face and Body Art and to see more of Jason and Stacey’s gorgeous work, visit their website at www.kyfaceandbodyart.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

Skulitz’s favorite show story comes from the North Port 50th Anniversary party in June. When he arrived, he noticed a face painter working for free, which made him nervous since he was charging for his work. For three hours the face painting booth was mobbed with kids while Skulitz went customer-less. Finally, a woman with two children came by and after contemplating her options, chose to pay for two tats on her kids. Skulitz said that once he was done, “All I saw was a mob of people at my booth. We had been rushed by over 50 or 70 people at one time. We had the longest line in the area.”

After the face painter packed up two hours early, his line grew even longer, and when closing time came, he still had a line. “Man what a show,” he said.

When asked for the best advice he had been given, Skulitz said, “I was told to reach inside of myself and pull out what is in my heart. If you love what you do, if you have heart for what you do, do not let anyone tell you, ‘You can’t do it; it won’t work.’ If your heart tells you that you can, then you listen to your heart. Always listen to your heart.”

To learn more about Skulitz, visit his website at www.atattoo4u.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.

Of all the designs he works with, Rodgers says he especially enjoys using the J.D. Crowe designs, since they serve as an outlet for his artistic nature, a nature which he uses selflessly:

While working a busy show in Washington, Rodgers was approached by a woman about a custom tattoo. Initially, he was hesitant since he couldn’t just indefinitely leave 30 customers in order to go make a stencil. However, when she showed him the design, he completely understood.

The woman had shown him a patch of the soldier’s cross for a group of American Gold Star Mothers. AGSM is an organization of mothers who have lost a son or daughter in service to America. After he finally closed down his booth at midnight, Rodgers went back to his trailer and began to work on the stencil. At 3AM, he finished. The next morning, when the woman finally returned to his booth, Rodgers applied her tat. He said, “It was funny to me; she kept on asking, ‘How much?’ And I would just smile.” As he finished, the woman began to cry. She asked him again how much, and he responded, “No charge.” The look on her face said all that needed saying.

The best advice he’s been given? “Be good to others, work hard for what you want, and never stop learning!”

To learn more about Rodgers, visit his website at www.toppersandtats.com.

If you would like to be featured in a Wednesday post, email ellyn@tatstore.com with “Wednesday Spotlight” in the subject line.