“My father has been my biggest inspiration. He raised me and has always been a solid rock. He’s supported everything that I’ve done. When I first started getting into tattooing he never doubted my ability, he never tried to talk me out of it, he even bought me my first tattoo machines to help me get to the point where I wasn’t doing free tattoos anymore. He did everything under the sun to support me. Now I have 4 kids and he still comes out whenever I need support. Even if me and my wife just need a date night, he’s always reliable.”

“That’s awesome. A lot of people don’t have that experience with their dad.”

“They don’t. I know that I’m extremely fortunate for that, and it ultimately inspires me to be the best father I can possibly be for my kids. When you have that type of experience being raised by a man it molds you. My dad is very open minded, he never tried to control my ideas or the stuff I experienced. To have such a flexible person guide me the right way is invaluable. It’s made me appreciative of my interactions with everyone. I’m so glad I don’t have any prejudice in my mind. Everyday I reflect on that and I find myself extremely lucky.”

“What’s one of your biggest triumphs?”

“I’m still in the midst of that. I have 4 kids. The oldest is 6, I have a 4 year old, and I have twin boys that are gonna be 3. To think about that and say that that’s a bit of adversity, you don’t think realize it until you’re in the mix of it. It’s an extremely stressful situation. I run two businesses, navigating my home and all my employees while trying to be a better father, a role model for my kids, a mentor to my employees, all of those things really add up at the end of the day. Sometimes the hardest thing is to deal with all the different personalities and the different levels of stress from everyone with all the things they have going on and still trying to be the rock and the most level headed through everything so we can guide ourselves into a place where everybody is doing good. And learning how to do that from a place of being very introverted as a young guy, and not being extremely sociable, having to manage my way around that has been a lot of work. Now it’s second nature to me and it’s just part of my to work hard for all of this stuff.”

“Sounds like a rich life.”

“It’s not rich in sleep, but it’s rich in experience and rich in the personal bonds I’m making with the people I tattoo, and the guys that I work for. At the end of the day I’m just trying to be a responsible business owner because I have 4 youngs kids that are always gonna look up to me.”