We were lucky to catch up with Jes Brannan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jes, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My father had a phenomenal work ethic. He was born in 1953 and paid his first taxes to the US government in 1962, at the age of 9. He started out sweeping decks and the insides of 18-wheelers, and when he died this May, at the age of 70, he died as the co-founder and former vice-President of Crane Trucking…which just sold for 53 million dollars. My dad was a relentless worker. He taught me to follow through, to be timely, to take pride in my own work ethic. He taught me to work hard at first, so you can more deeply relax later. He taught me not to give up, to be tenacious, to be firm and fair. A lot of people thought my dad was an SOB, and he could be…because he didn’t believe in excuses…but there’s little doubt by that my father was an strong figure in the trucking industry. My father also taught me painful generosity. To help people until it hurts sometimes, and to give second chances. My father was a nuanced person, but that made him fair and effective. And I think I carry the very best parts of my father with me. I strive to remember his lessons, the verbal ones and the ones he taught me just through observation. I’m unafraid of hard and I highly value community. I can also be an SOB at times, but I try to practice true empathy, and sometimes that means being firm, in order to produce the best in others.

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?

I started drawing when I was 20 or so, prior to that (and honestly even still) I viewed myself more as a writer than a visual artist, but I discovered an affinity for it. For about 15 years I most focused on portraits or private commissions. I did multiple murals and also got into decorating cakes and candies. However, I never meant to be a Tattooer. I went to college, got an AA and a BA, studying Positive Human Development and Social Change and Anthropology. I hoped I’d continue in school and maybe work somewhere interesting where I got to keep learning amazing things, however, while working on my second BA, my dads condition went downhill and I had to focus on how I could better provide for myself. I saw a Facebook ad from a local tattoo shop looking to train a new artist, I applied…and the rest is history. Honestly it’s the people aspect of tattooing that makes it so fun, I love meeting new people, hearing their stories, and connecting. It’s one thing I think that really sets our sho apart too. We arnt just here to work, we are here to show our community that we are invested in bettering the lives and circumstances of those around us. We do raffles, community events, and fundraisers. We hope to show that standing out isn’t standing apart.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

When brainstorming our ideal shop model, one idea I had was a “honey pot” (our shop is called “The Hive”). Each artist can opt in to putting 5% of their daily revenue into it. Those funds go to shop group activities. We try to have a monthly meeting that also includes a fun, team building element. We go on group vacations as well, and this helps fund that. It also functions as a savings account, for example: your pipes burst and you need money now, you can withdraw your honey pot money. This is effective team building in many ways. We spend a lot of time together, so actually forging a working friendship was important to us all. That’s another reason we are so selective about who we hire. I couldn’t have gotten through the death of my father without these people. We truly are a family.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The hardest lesson I’m unlearning now is what is “right” or “wrong” in life. It’s just not my place to judge. I don’t like addiction or poverty, but people have to choose their own path. All I can do as a person is to love them where they are. There’s no evidence that my way of thinking is totally top tier, so who am I to question others. I learned that in an Anthropology course, when we were discussing ideas of agency.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @sweetrevengetattoos
• Facebook: JJ Cates

Image Credits
@sweetrevengetattoos