We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anomalia (Lia) Rose a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Anomalia (Lia), looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
Self-efficacy is the golden key to success. You must have confidence and control over your own motivation! Success can look different to every individual because it all depends on the end goal. Proper goal planning is another factor that, unfortunately, not many people know how to do. You need to have long term and sort term goals, and don’t be embarrassed to make small, easily achievable goals. It’s the small things that will help you build more confidence and motivation along the way. Start small, make sure your goals are realistic, then work your way to the larger obstacles. And NEVER let fear get in your way. I was terrified for my first photoshoot, terrified to tattoo on real skin, terrified of my art getting rejected. If I never made those leaps, I wouldn’t be doing all these wonderful things that make me happy today. Fear is just the first step to being brave. Take the leap, believe in yourself, and stay committed and focused!
Anomalia (Lia), love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Anomalia Rose and I have been an artist all of my life. I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil, painting, dancing, anything artistic. I always knew exactly what I wanted to be – a creative. I started working retail jobs at 16, but stayed on the look out for art industry careers. I put my art in whatever galleries would take it, and instructed sip and paint classes on the side. My modeling career was kicked off in 2016, with a full year of doing trade-for-portfolio shoots, in which neither photographer or model got paid and both parties retained rights to the photos. This is how I built up a portfolio and experience. A few years later, I stumbled across a Facebook ad for a tattoo apprenticeship with Jerel Ink. This apprenticeship was like no other, and I still feel very lucky that I found it. With endless hours of hard work, I became an official tattoo artist in six months. I practiced on fake skin, gave some free tattoos, then started to charge very low amounts. The better I got, the more I charged. I’ve been tattooing for over a year now, and I love every second of it. I had put down painting, drawing, and modeling for a while to build up my tattoo portfolio, but I am ecstatic to be getting back into it all this year. I offer a broad amount of services, including body art, art commissions of all materials, original artwork, creative modeling, and design. Working retail and customer service for so long has made me extremely client-driven, and I think that sets me apart from a lot of other artists. Many tattoo clients ask me what my specialty is, but I do an enormous variety of art styles and subjects. My specialty, I would say, is the connection and emotion I can link between the client and the art. I love memorial pieces, portraits, scar cover ups, anything special to the client. In modeling, my specialty is being a visionary. I often make my own costumes and props, have innovative ideas, and bring tons of artistic knowledge to every shoot. My pride lies in my work and gets stronger with every achievement. Its reassuring to know it only gets better from here. You can always expect me to bring my A-game to everything I do!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
As dreamers and entrepreneurs, we’ve all heard the typical criticism. “Get a real job.” Most Americans are taught that a stable paycheck is the best way to make money, and that can be the hardest thing to unlearn when going after your dreams. You have to take huge risks and make serious sacrifices sometimes for your business. Many say you shouldn’t expect to make much money, if any, in your first year of business. I actually lost money my first year of modeling, and didn’t even reach $10,000 my first year of tattooing after expenses, and most of it was made at the end of that year. It can be a hard pill to swallow, but it will be so much more rewarding than that biweekly paycheck. I’m now making almost double the amount I was bringing in at my highest paying day job. Hope is your best friend in these times, but with confidence and ambition, you will pull through!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
The more you put into your work, the more you have to show. A strong portfolio and self-selling skills have been the most helpful tools in building my reputation in every industry I’ve gotten into. I have modeled for free, done a few tattoos for free, and sold art at extremely low prices. Offer free samples, cheap services, whatever you need to put out there. Not every fish will bite, but you have to start somewhere. Once you have some examples to show, customer testimonials, etc., start using those to self yourself, your products, or services. Have confidence when speaking to clients, you’re persuading them to buy what you’re selling. Promote constantly! Always be on the lookout for selling opportunities and business conversations.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.anomaliatattooco.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/anomaliatattooco
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/anomaliatattooco
- Other: www.Instagram.com/anomaliarose Tiktok @anomaliatattooco and @anomaliarose
Image Credits
David Bowers, Red Cliff Photography