We were lucky to catch up with DaVo Wilkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, DaVo thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?
We manage our online presents. This is mainly because it is the first impression and conversation that we have with our clients and future clients. Since our approach to every interaction is that it is an opportunity to inform and educate the general public about body piercing and our studio, it’s important that the information being shared is correct and knowledgeable. Content created by experts in our field is much more valuable than anything a social media expert could produce.
Also, it makes us much more nimble to react to changes in the industry and react to interactions on timely bases. If we would rely on a third party to update the website or post to social media it would only delay it. Timely interaction through comments increases the impact of the content and often a third party is not going to be able to respond with the correct information. It is why our website, social media, and YouTube channel are all done in-house.
DaVo, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My first interaction with body piercing and what started my passion was the desire to get my nipples pierced at age 12, When I reached adulthood I began searching for a professional that could pierce me and quickly found out that not only was the industry limited, it didn’t exist at all in Des Moines, Iowa.
Over the next 5 years, I read and collected every piece of information I could get. At first, thinking that maybe I would pierce them myself and then with time, begin to do it professionally. In 1994, I went through a short apprenticeship and began piercing in Des Moines at Creative Images in May and was the first professionally trained piercer in the state of Iowa. I would continue there for 8 months before setting up my own studio in March of 1995,
In 1999 we began a collaboration with Jack Lowe and Skin Kitchen Tattoo that continues to this day. In 2018 we started the Body Piercing & Tattooing Channel on YouTube and produce 3-4 educational videos covering tattooing and body piercing a week.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
When I started my piercing studio, the industry was not developed or tested in my part of the world. So, traditional financing wasn’t an option. I worked an additional part-time job that covered most of the overhead cost and had been saving up money for a few years.
I think the business benefited from the limited budget. Often when people start their first business they buy and pay for additional items or services that are not important to the operation of the business. Starting lean and focusing on what the priorities were and doing many things yourself instead of paying someone, can shirk the operating costs and give the business time to go. For example, you could hire some business to clean your toilets, post on social media, market your business, create a website, paint a wall, put together a display, or shovel the sidewalk but these are all things you can do yourself. It might take a little research and learning a new skill but it will also help you understand the true value of those services.
One thing I did is I made a list of all the items that would be needed to operate the business and a list of what would be nice to have. Then I rated them from must have to can live without. I purchased in order of the list and I began this 6 months before even signing a lease. So by the time I was moving into the space, I already had the most expensive and needed equipment paid for.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
First and foremost you need your own website that you post to on a regular bases. This will help to build your online presence and you will retain ownership of the content. Post links to new content on your social media.
The thing that is going to build your audience is to post constantly. Make your posts engaging and respond to all comments and reviews. Also following back and liking and commenting on other’s posts will help with growth. Polls and questions are going to get the best reactions. Understand that often your personal accounts will be linked to your business account, this can help build the following for your business but you also have to be more restrictive with your personal posts. Avoid controversial topics or be careful with sharing family and relationship information. You need to consider yourself a public figure and you represent the public face of your business at all times.
Make sure that your content has value. We built our YouTube channel by providing in-depth educational videos. Our approach has always been to assume that the person we are speaking to is completely new to our industry. In other words each video, post, blog, photo or piece of content is a discussion with a new client.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://axiompiercing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/axiombodypiercing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Axiompiercing/
- Linkedin: david-wilkins-865bbb13
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/axiomskt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzC8ADITCOU036JKQUfzOcQ
Image Credits
All photos by David DaVo Wilkins at Axiom Body Piercing.