We recently connected with Anya Kim and have shared our conversation below.

Anya , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I’ve actually just opened my little private studio, it all honestly happened so quickly and took forever at the same time! After looking at the place, my husband and I decided to take it on and start working on it probably within days! We had to do some construction work in there and all the paperwork part for my business license. Hardest part in my opinion that there’s no information anywhere on what to do or where to go or anything, so each step was almost a test. Despite all the hard work and problems we had to deal with we absolutely happy we decided to take on this challenge, I’m sure there’s still will be a lot to learn about all little details in the future. I’m excited for the new chapter of my life and career so very much!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Anya and I’m originally from Russia, born and raised in Siberia. I left my hometown in 2013 to travel, I spent 3 years in India, where I started learn how to tattoo, then continued practicing in Indonesia and in 2017 I came to United States to learn more about tattooing and improve my skills, I found myself in way more love with tattooing then I was thinking I’ll be. My work slowly shifted towards floral/nature related theme overs years and I’m super happy about it, because plants is one of my favorite things in the world for sure haha. I also work on a lot of cover ups-which I think I’ll be doing forever because of the emotional side of it, it really feels awesome to be able to help give something new life and new emotions to the owner of it!

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I’m probably the worst planner ever haha. I absolutely did not had any capital saved for it and my husband and I also went on 2 months road trip right before that as well 😅 When I realized what I sign up for and what is coming I had to come up with a plan quickly, I didn’t had any other ideas like schedule more people and work more and luckily I was able to to do it in time and work on all things for the shop In little steps- and little by little it started to come together for us. We still have a lot to work on but during these first few months we learned that as long as we stay focus and prioritize important things-it’s possible!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth and social media are definitely my two best sources of new clients for me. Social media is definitely the harder one for me, because it’s another whole new thing that I have to explore and learn a lot about, I hope I can get better at it sometime soon haha

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kimkimtattoo.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/kimkim_tattoo?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kimkim_tattoo

Image Credits
Photo of me painting was taken by Dabsel Adams IG: https://instagram.com/dabseladams?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=