Why I told the Network People No
With the proliferation of television shows focusing on tattooing we often have clients say to us “You should be on television…”. So I have had time to think about it and always thought that there is nothing that would want to make me want to do that.
Of course having the network people actually call me up and tell me that they would like to have me on a show that they are producing is a slightly different experience.
On Saturday Rich came to me with the portable phone covered and said “There is some woman on the phone who claims that she is from Spike TV”. Yeah, right I thought.
Nope.
Turns out that she really was. I wound up speaking with two very charming ladies who explained why they were contacting me and what they were interested in doing. Initially I told them no thank you – they then went on to explain that Chris Longo had given them my name – which gave the project much more weight in my mind. I think the world of Chris and don’t believe that he would be involved in anything that would cast tattooing into a negative light. I also remembered Damon Conklin submitting a demo tape to some show and it turns out it was this one. Again, thinking highly of Damon pushed me further away from flatly telling these people no. I told them I would consider it. They talked about what I would need to do to take the next step and said they would follow up with emailled contact information.
It took me all of about ten minutes after I hung up the phone to decide that I didn’t want to be on TV.
I honesty can’t think of anything in my life that could be improved by that.
It would take time away from my family, my clients, my shops and the things that I enjoy doing. But that’s not really all of it is it?
I would definitely get more clients from the media exposure. But to what end? I have a more than full schedule now. I am actually trying to decrease the number of appointments that I take on. Why would I want more people contacting me that I would have to tell no? Sounds like more stress. Also the odds would be that most of those clients would be from out of the area. Again, more stress. I already have a fair number of clients who travel from great distance and while that is really great for the ego – it is difficult for both myself and the client. The added expense of traveling, the desire to get as much as humanly possible done in that session, my concerns that I might be sick or have something come up that day or just that the client might not be able to sit for a really long session after they have come all that way. I don’t mind having a percentage of my clients from out of state – but I do not want to drastically increase that percentage.
Fame? Yeah, if you know me at all you know how I feel about that one. There is no part of me that likes being recognized out places. I definitely do not want it happening more often.
So what would be gained by being on a television show? Well, it might bring more clients into the shop for the other artists as well. That would be nice. It might bring me a higher session rate. More money is always nice too.
Bottom line though, the biggest thing for me is my personal representation. I am often misunderstood. I am occasionally misquoted. Sometimes I say one thing and it is heard another.
I have spent a lot of time in my life trying to figure out what makes me tick, what motivates me and who I want to be. I try my best to present that me to the world in the most accurate manner that I can. I want to love and create and be a blessing in the lives of those around me. I have hurt far too many people in my life accidentally or inadvertently. (Not to mention intentionally when I was younger/stupider).
I can not bring myself to allow who I am to the world to be handled by some mysterious editor with their own agenda. I do a good enough job screwing that up all on my own – I definitely don’t need professional help!
So while it was a momentary thrill to be thought of – and I will remain grateful to Chris for thinking of me – I just don’t see this ever being something I would want.
I love my life. I love the people and the things in it. What more could I possibly ask for?
Photo was yoinked from the internet. I believe that is was created by someone named MicaelP who has a page on Deviant Art – but I was unable to contact them to confirm.
Just TeeJay's Blog 
nailed it.