We were lucky to catch up with Kayla Bell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kayla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Becoming a business owner was something I have always dreamt of achieving. My tattoo journey began in 2020, during the pandemic when I had downtime to really focus on my craft. I was practicing all the time at home and once restrictions were lifted, I was able to start working on people at my shop. At the time, I was renting a suite and it was the perfect beginner space for me. Little did I know, my big dreams were about to become a reality. In 2022, I was approached online by someone asking me if I could be apart of their event and do tattoo’s at their pop up. I was a little apprehensive at first, because I had never heard of a tattoo pop up, and I wasn’t even sure if it was legal. After some research and talking to the Health Department, I was able to obtain my permits to tattoo outside of my shop. This one single event sparked so much creativity for me, as I drew a custom flash sheet for guests wanting tiny tattoos. We had incredible success at the event, and everyone thought it was the coolest thing! Over the next few weeks, I received dozens of DM’s from other businesses wanting us to come to their place to do these tattoo pop-ups. This is where the tattoo pop up idea was born for my business, and it completely reshaped everything for High Vibes Tattoo. For the past 2 years, I have worked incredibly hard to develop this business model into what it is today. I hired a Social Media Manager and an Event Coordinator to help take on the tasks involved outside of just tattooing. We have now started offering tattoo services for private events as well, such as weddings, bachelorette parties and birthday parties!
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?
High Vibes Tattoo is a unique business model because there are two sides to it. The first part is where guests can come into my shop and get custom, fine line tattoos. I specialize in script, fonts, lettering, handwriting, botanicals, florals and ornamental style tattoos. The second part to this business that sets us apart, are the tattoo pop ups. A lot of people find out about us online, through social media and they come from all over, to our pop up events. Both sides of my business are geared more towards women and people wanting to get their first tattoos. We have learned that these people are seeking out a women owned, fine line tattoo shop where they can feel comfortable and excited about their tattoo choice. My goal is to always make everyone feel like their ideas are important, and that I can execute the tattoo perfectly. We also learned that the tattoo pop ups make getting tattoos more accessible. A lot of first time people have expressed that the pop ups are easier for them to come to and in turn, they are eager to book custom appointments with me in the future at my shop!
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media is one of the best tools a business can utilize to help scale and grow. That is, if they know how to use it well. For High Vibes Tattoo, I had done all of the social media myself for the first couple of years. I stayed on top of trends, learned how the algorithm worked, and even tried posting at different times of the day. After two years of this, I was growing steadily, but I knew I needed more help. Since social media is a full time job just by itself, I hired a social media manager. She is dedicated to growing my online presence and helping manage messages. Taking the grueling tasks of social media off of my hands, helped open up even more opportunities for my art to thrive and grow. I was able to dedicate more time to my craft, and more time with my family.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
Being someone that guests can trust, I believe, is the most important way to grow and maintain clientele. Especially when it comes to making a permanent change to someones skin. Tattooing is such an incredible art, and since I specialize in fine line tattoos, people are seeking this style out more and more. Every single person that I meet at my shop, or at a pop up event is another opportunity to build that trust. I always do my best to have good bedside manner when working with clients, and I will follow up with them if needed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.highvibestattoo.com
- Instagram: @highvibestattoo
- Other: TikTok – @highvibestattoo
Image Credits
Cameron Hayes Photography ACM Media