that didn't last......

[David]

That's more or less the kind of bullshit I was worried about. This guy is definitely not up to code with the health dept and the only thing of value here is a name on a storefront that people are already familiar with. His customers like his work and I think they'd continue with a shop I was running as many of them are already familiar with me. But since I'm not doing the tattooing that might not hold water anyway

When it comes down to the practicality of the situation, I think I might just buy that chair off of him (just because its cool looking) and take a crack at relocating. In my own town I've already found a better deal on rent with an owner whose building I manage. Three times the space for the same price. That's a no-brainer. That'll give me room for a couple divided workstations and proper cleanroom facilities. Its a matter of getting the permit, though. I've made an appointment for Fri with the zoning officer. There was a tattoo studio in town for less than a year that had just about everything wrong with it so he might take a little convincing.

Shit, it looks like if I couldn't land a stable apprenticeship, I might just get one for the price of paying the bills. One way or the other, I'm gonna learn something, dammit!

[comrad]

What was his reputation like?? sometimes a reps worth holding onto.

You got any links to his work?

[David]

He seems to have a good following of locals, which is why I would like to continue under his shop name. Around here, he's the middle ground. There's shops that come and go that had bad rep's (shit work, unsanitary, drug dealing or just being stoned on the job, etc.) and there's others that do good work but are struggling because they're too expensive (there's one guy a few towns away from here that charges for consultation). His work is on the better side of average, so if I can find someone who's "good" his customers won't be left with no one fair to go to. Relocating "his" shop is really seeming the way to go, just because he's got a tiny suite with no clean room or seperate workstations.
I'm over the shock of the abrupt departure announcement now and am just trying to figure a way of carrying on in a professional manner that's good for his regular customers. The real glitch is that he actually thinks that I'm the one for the job and I've yet to tell him that I need to bring someone else in that's competent. He basically picked me to turn things over to and he might not be so generous in "handing" it over if I have different plans but am still using his name. That's just something that's got to be discussed before I can form an opinion of the situation.

[David]

Oh, and no, he doesn't have a website. Just does steady business by word of mouth (and to me that says something positive as well)

[Karl]

Relocating 'his' shop is a nono imo, think about respect. Either take his shop or open one by a different name and start from scratch.

[David]

Yup, I'll be starting from scratch. New name, new location. He's going to sell me his furniture when he moves out, and that'll be that.
I have access to a storefront that I can rent for next to nothing (I manage the building for the owner) and I obviously can't pass up a deal like that. Now I gotta find someone to do the majority of the tattooing....

Really would have liked to have gotten more apprenticeship time in