Scott Brown of the Scooter Brown Band was kind enough to let us interview him about his career in the music business. You can check out his band and website at The Scooter Brown Band

What do you do for a living?

I am a professional musician, singer, and song writer.

How would you describe what you do to someone?

I write and compose music and perform it on stage.

What does your work entail?

It entails writing music and composing, obviously performing live shows, traveling, a lot of phone conferences and emails with bookings and management companies and venues and promotional stuff, radio, TV, internet.

What’s a typical work week look like for you?

During the beginning of the week I do a lot of phone calls, emails, and conference calls.  I do some acoustic house gigs close to where I live and then usually, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we travel and play shows.

How did you get started?

It’s kind of funny, when I first started playing guitar, I told my dad, “This is so cool.  I love music.  One day, I just want to play on stage in front of somebody with a microphone and some speakers and just do it like that will make me happy.”  And then it happened.

When you step on stage and you look out and there’s a thousand people in front of you that all paid their hard earned money to come in and watch your show and sing along to the words, that’s the most rewarding…that 90 minutes that you’re on stage is the easiest thing about this, it’s by far the reason why we do this job.

Then the next thing I was able to put a band together and it happened.  Then I said if I can just get the music on the radio and hear my songs on radio like that would be unbelievable.  And it’s happening.  It’s like you always kind of push for those next things and you get to those and now those things are no big deal anymore.  Now you’re like I want to do this, I want to do that.  You just keep pushing for bigger and better as the years go by.  You keep accomplishing goals and obviously for us we want to be big as we can possibly get and make good money and take care of our families and play music.

What do you like about what you do?

I love music in general.  I love writing it.  I love performing it.  I love traveling.  I love going to new towns, meeting new people.  One of my favorite things about what I do is performing a song and getting a reaction out of somebody whether they smile or laugh or it brings a tear in their eye.  It’s great when you hit emotionally with the lyrics that you’ve written.  Those are some of my favorite things about what I do.

What do you dislike about this job?

I spend a lot of time away from my family.  It also comes with a very high stress level because there are so many people out there trying to do the same thing that we’re doing and competing.  It’s kind of like being on a hundred percent commission.  You could just knock it out of the ballpark one month and the next month you might be scraping by.

There’s just a ton of overhead in the business itself between recording, records, putting songs out on the radio, touring, and gas and hotels. And sometimes people think that you make a lot of money and you do gross pretty decent money but a ton of it goes back into the business itself.

How do you make money or how are you compensated on this career?

One, I make money off writing songs.  If I write a song and somebody else records it then you receive a royalty off of it.  When the songs are played on the radios or TV we receive royalties off it.  There’s also merchandise sales such as CDs, T-shirt, hats etc.  And then obviously performing at live shows.

How much money do you make as a professional musician?

Because we put so much money back into the band I probably bring home maybe $50,000 a year right now after paying for everything.  As a band we probably gross like over $200,000 or more.

With some shows you might make $6,000 or $7,000 grand.  Then you pay out the band.  You pay your management.  You pay your booking agent.  You pay yourself and then you try to stuff as much money away because you might have a show a thousand dollars away.  You might be opening for somebody, a bigger band and you might only get two hundred bucks for that show for coming and opening.  You still have to pay the fuel and the hotel rooms, and all that stuff and it adds up pretty quickly.  On a two or three day run it literally may be a thousand dollars or $1500 out of pocket.

The thing about this career is if you truly believe that this is what you want to do, you should get out there, do your best at it, make as many contacts as you possibly can and never give up. There are people that had been at it for 15 or 20 years before they actually became successful…If your heart is in it and you truly love music and enjoy performing in front of people, don’t give up. Always chase your dream because not all people get to do it.

For our band, every year has been a better year.  Every year we’ve gotten on better shows, grossed more money and have gotten a bigger fan base.  It just fluctuates throughout the year though.  There are times of the year that are slow for everybody in the business.  But for us, every year overall has been a better year for sure.

How much money did you make starting out?

When I was doing it part time and had another job I was probably making like $10,000/year.

Would you say there are any perks associated with what you do?

Yeah, definitely.  There’s perks like being recognized by fans and people around town.  We’ve picked up sponsorships where you get free clothes or free boots.  At dinner you may go into a restaurant and the owner knows you and they’ll pay for your dinner or something like that.  Also you just get to do a lot of really cool things like getting to meet and play shows with other people in the business that you look up to.

What education and/or skills would you say are needed to be a professional musician?

That’s a really hard question to answer because there are people out there that are just naturally talented and gifted people and then there’s people that go to college and know everything about the theory of music.

There are guys like Dave Matthews and John Mayer who are freakin’ musical geniuses.  They went to college and they know everything about the theory of music and then there are guys like myself.  I have a high school education and I did four years in the Marine Corps.  I didn’t go to college.  I started writing as a hobby and I picked up playing the guitar when I was 19 and I still to this day probably couldn’t tell you half the chords that I play or what key I even play in.  I just picked it up by ear and started writing.  And I don’t know much about music theory or stuff like that.  I just play it.

As far as other skills you do need to have some sort of business sense.  So if you don’t have good business, then you need to have somebody working for you that does for sure.  Other than that it’s just a lot of determination, a lot of people quit this business when they’re so close to breaking through.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Probably staying busy and just keeping the gigs rolling in, especially in Texas since there are so many bands.  Also, just continually writing my music that’s relevant and that fans want to hear.  You can write songs all days that you think are good but at the end of the day it’s about really putting asses in the seats, connecting with fans, and selling tickets to make a living.

Obviously [the goal] is always to grow as big as possible and to play in more places. Right now, I can say I’m living my dream. I get to play music for a living and I support my family off of it. And as long as I can keep doing that I will always be happy.

So creating a show, creating music that people want to buy and listen to, and staying on top of your game and being relevant in the music scene is probably the most difficult.

What do you find most rewarding about what you do?

Performing the show.  When you step on stage and you look out and there’s a thousand people in front of you that all paid their hard earned money to come in and watch your show and sing along to the words, that’s the most rewarding.

All the other stuff like dealing with contracts, booking agents, PR, ordering merchandise, etc can be a pain in the ass.  I’m not complaining but it can be a pain.  But that 90 minutes that you’re on stage is the easiest thing about this, it’s by far the reason why we do this job.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

The thing about this career is if you truly believe that this is what you want to do, you should get out there, do your best at it, make as many contacts as you possibly can and never give up.  The people that have been successful in this business, and granted you get a lot of people that they get on TV shows and they become an overnight success or they form a band together and they get in front of that right person and they become an overnight success and they’ve only been at it for a couple of years.

But a lot of people that have really been successful, if you go back and read their stories, they are people that had been at it for 15 or 20 years before they actually became successful.  And if after 10 years or whatever, something finally hits you in the face, and you say, “I did my best and it’s not working out.”, that’s one thing.  But I feel a lot of people go at it for a couple of years and, say “Oh, we didn’t make it,” and they go back to work in their day job.  Who knows what would happen if they have gone for another year or another five years, maybe that would have been what it took.

A lot of people settle for less because they gave up too easily or too early and throw their hands up in the air, but if you want it you can make it happen.

If your heart is in it and you truly love music and enjoy performing in front of people, don’t give up.  Always chase your dream because not all people get to do it.

How much time off do you get or take for a vacation or free time?

I pretty much play on average about 220 days a year.  I spend the other days at the house around my kids and my wife.

So the rest of the time I’m not working per se.  I may be sitting in my gym shorts like now doing interviews, paperwork, or stuff like that.  So I actually get a lot of time off where I’m technically still working.

If I feel like shutting the computer off or turning my phone off I can do that.  If I want to go on a vacation and take five days off all I need to do is tell my booking agent don’t book me during these days.

If the money is coming in, if I want to take two months off, I could take two months off.  It all depends.  That’s probably the best answer I could give you.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

I think the common misconception would be that we just get up on stage and play music.  I think people don’t realize how much work goes into a show and getting out on the road and actually performing and putting music out.  I mean there’s a lot of work involved to do that.  Some people will be like, “Man, it must be cool, you get to sleep until noon every day and you get up and you come out and drink beers and play music and hang out with everybody,” and that’s not what really happens.

I mean I get up in the morning and I start working.  I make phone calls.  I’m on the computer.  I go to the gym.  I keep myself healthy.  When you’re on radio tour sometimes you’ve got to be on the radio station at 6:30 in the morning or go into a live TV thing and the news at 5 o’clock in the morning.  There’s just a lot of work that goes into it besides the show that you put on.

What are you goals and dreams for the future in this career?

Obviously it’s always to grow as big as possible and to play in more places.  Right now, I can say I’m living my dream.  I get to play music for a living and I support my family off of it.  And as long as I can keep doing that, I will always be happy.  We got a couple of nice cars and we live in a nice house.  It’s nothing fancy.

It’s never going to be on MTV cribs or nothing but we get by and that’s completely fine with me.  But with that being said, we want to be a nationally based band touring all over the United States.  We want to go play in Europe and push our music over there.  We would love to put out great music and be awarded for it whether it be country music awards or the even Grammy’s or whatever, or get to play on a late night talk show.

It’s just little stuff like that as far as a bucket list that we try to strive for.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Whenever somebody buys our CD we tell them thank you and we say all we ask is if you like it, burn and give it to your friends.  They’re like, “No, we’re not going to burn it.  We’ll tell them to go to iTunes and download it,” which, obviously is fine.  But we say burn it and give it to people.  Tell people about it.

We’re making $10 on the sale of a CD.  If somebody burns 10 of them and just two or three more people become fans out of those 10 people, they’ll come to shows and pass it along to friends.  It all works out in the long run we just want to get the music out there and get people coming to our shows.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a commercial musician and I also teach lessons.

How would you describe what you do?

I play saxophone, flute, and clarinet. I also teach. I give private lessons because it’s pretty standard for any musician out there to end up teaching something. I work at a high school right now and I have gigs, when they call. It’s not a real consistent thing; it’s more that you just go and play whenever you’re called. I teach out of the academy at Winthrop University and I teach at Northwestern high school.

What does your work entail?

It entails being able to work with people, lots of communication skills – and also it entails being flexible.  Pretty much, you’re selling yourself when you’re a musician.  We go out and we give people what they want. So, lots of flexibility, communication skills with people and obviously a lot of time devoted to practice. The majority of my work takes place in a practice room and it’s pretty much practicing my technique and making sure that any gig that I have a call on I’ll be a good reader and also have the ability to improvise, produce a good tone, and provide pretty much any musical need that anybody would have for me.

I have played gigs ranging from a wedding gig at a church playing in front of a back-end track, playing, for example, Elton’s’ theme to the Lion King.  I have played for people who didn’t even speak English, and they would nod to me and I could figure out the key signature and everything, pretty much just improvise whenever they nodded to me and stop whenever they nodded to me again. It was pretty crazy.  So the job just really entails playing music, improvising, practicing, and doing my best to be good at what I do.

What’s a typical workweek like?

It really depends. It’s not an extremely consistent job.  I think the busiest I’ve been is if I’m playing a musical at a high school or something like that, generally that work week can be six nights a week. I’ll have school in the morning and then at night go to rehearsal and then you have another full week of shows the next week. So, you have six nights of rehearsal, six nights of shows. That’s only been for one performance.

my goal is to show people music is important, and that without music we would lack so much in our culture and I want people to understand that. Without music life would be very different.

Also church gigs are probably the most common thing I get and those usually have, if it’s a big church they have Saturday services and Sunday services so I’ll go to the rehearsal at two o’clock on Saturday. Then they’ll have two services that night, one usually at four o’clock and one at seven o’clock. Then I get up early the next day and since we did sound check the day before we just have four services in a row. It really does vary depending on the gig, because I don’t have a consistent gig right now; it’s hard to say exactly the hours that I work.

How did you get started?

I got started when I was in high school and my high school director got me really involved in things. He would advertise our jazz combo in our high school and then we’d go on his gig. The very first big thing I had was a recording session with these guys in Charlotte.  I went up and I recorded with them for three hours and played on two of their songs on their CDs and then I got called for various other recordings after that. It’s a full time job  - but you have to keep in mind I’m also in college, so I’m taking currently 24 hours of class. I’m in five bands at five bands at Winthrop University. And then I pretty much practice.  I get all of my stuff done for my other classes and then with what time I have left, I practice.  I don’t get a lot of sleep.

What do you like about what you do?

I like the amount of expression that I have, it’s not the highest paying job but I at least get to do what I want. I mean, every musician is unique in his or her own way. No two players play exactly alike even though they may play similarly; it’s kind of a defining factor in your musicianship. So, if someone hears you and then likes the way you sound, you feel you have something of value because they’ve heard you and that’s what they want to hear on their album. So, I would say if there’s anything I like about it’s the amount of expression I can put into my playing and the fact that it’s such a unique job.

What do you dislike?

I dislike finding gigs. It’s very hard.  I mean, you know, you make business cards and you hand them to people and you kind of hope they call you. And then when they end up calling you, they’ll offer you a really low price.  I feel like oftentimes musicians are under appreciated and people forget that while we’re not spending our time in an office working, we are spending it in a practice room. It’s really the same difference as any other job.

The number of hours that you practice is what makes you what you are. So, it’s the same as any other profession because the amount of work you put into it determines how many gigs you get. But, people really don’t see it that way sometimes, and a lot of times they under quote you and sometimes you have no other choice because there’s no other gig.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

Most of the gigs are compensated with food and then we might get paid gas money if it’s a free gig. If it’s at our university usually I play free gigs and I’m compensated with people just broadcasting my name. Those kinds of gigs are just as valuable in many cases.  Then obviously we get the occasional paid gig as well.

How much money do you make?

I would say I average probably, $5,000 a year, which is like a fair number.  And on teaching lessons it’s probably more like $5,500 a year.  Give or take a little on both.

How much money do you make starting out?

Well you don’t make anything starting out.  If you can get before the public and play for people and be heard a lot of times it leads to other gigs.  So a lot of times a free gig will lead to many other paying gigs.  For teaching lessons I’m compensated right there on the spot and then also I get the teaching experience if you wanted to consider that compensation.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

For me it kind of started with my high school education and then into college. The private lessons that I have taken have been helpful as well.  But I’ve met others who have not had either and they’re doing fine. Improvisation is also very important. Being able to make up music or create music on the spot is important, because a lot of gigs and music nowadays are based around improvisation.

Knowing your keys, knowing your skills, understanding what sounds good and what you can play in front of certain audiences are all very important too. I would say improvisation I would say is very, very important for any commercial musician though.

What is most challenging about what you do?

The most challenging is keeping up with the other musicians and sustaining a reputation for yourself.  The other challenge is not getting paid very much.

What is most rewarding?

Most rewarding is when you meet somebody, they like how you’re playing, and they hire you. If the gig goes well and they want to hire you back, you just made a friend in the business who will help you out.  So, it’s obviously a networking thing; a good network in the musical community is very rewarding.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

If there were a recommendation for any musician out there I would say to marry somebody who makes a lot of money:).

Be extremely flexible and be prepared to give up certain things. You will have to have the mentality to realize that you’re self-employed, so when you’re not practicing there are a 100,000 people that are out there practicing the exact same thing you should be practicing. So you have to give up a lot of your social life in order to be the best, which is your objective if you want to make money.

So, I would say be prepared to give up things. Obviously don’t smoke, and don’t do anything that’s going to be damaging to your body because anything that hurts you is hurting your playing.

How much time off do you get/take?

Well right now a lot. I haven’t had any gigs in a while so; I would say you get time off when you’re not playing gigs, if you consider that time off.

Are there any perks associated with this job?

Yes, meeting people, people that you would normally have not met if you had not been a musician. I’ve met a few famous musicians, such as Wynton Marsalis. He actually did one of the first iTunes commercials. He was playing trumpet and he had his iPod, his ear buds in, you know that whole thing. I’ve met a few of the brothers in the Marsalis family. I’ve also met various other artists who I’ve had the opportunity to meet as a result of playing music.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

A lot of people say that a musician is a waste of job; it’s for somebody that couldn’t find anything better to do with their life. That’s not true, some of the smartest minds are musicians. I’m a music major at Winthrop and I’m a commercial musician on the side and with teaching. I can’t see myself really doing anything else except for playing music and I feel it’s my calling; that’s not a reason for anybody to say I could not find anything else to do with my life.

Also, saying that musicians don’t work hard is a very common misconception because like I said the number of hours that one person makes in one day doing their job is the same number of hours that we spend in the practice room doing our job.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

My personal goal will always be advancing music. If I don’t make any money doing what I do, at least people will know it was important to me.  It’s not all necessarily about money, but my goal is to show people music is important, and that without music we would lack so much in our culture and I want people to understand that. Without music life would be very different.

Ultimately I would like to be a college professor. I kind have modeled my career plan after my teacher, Mr. Thompson, here at Winthrop and he’s the person I would love to become eventually. He teaches saxophone and he teaches Jazz band here at Winthrop and he also commissions the players to play up in Charlotte. He just seems to love his life and have a great time.

The way he did it, he went straight from college to being a college professor here. He went through to get his master’s degree, and then he got a college teaching job.  Realistically, that doesn’t happen nowadays, you have to have some kind of public school teaching experience if you want to get hired for a college gig.  I would love to teach middle school or elementary school because those are the two jobs that allow the most time that I can play outside of my job. I can play my instrument and perform.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

I would definitely say from a teachers standpoint is to have respect for teachers in public schools and understand they are helping you create the workers in the future on every job. From a musical standpoint I would say, have respect for the musician and understand that they do a lot of work and what they do is in many cases, just as important as what a doctor does for people, but from an emotional standpoint. It is a release for many people. It’s much more than just playing music.

David Quinn was kind enough to take some time to answer these questions.  He can be found at www.davidquinn.co.nr.

What do you do for a living?

I am a freelance artist, specializing in 3d weapons.

How would you describe what you do?

I create weapons through 3d programs for video games, magazines, etc.

What does your work entail as a graphic artist?

I create models. It entails coming up with a basic idea, adding my own twist to it, and being generally artistic with it. Most of the time, I only do weapons, so that means if someone wants something historically correct, I have to research every bit of this item they want, from the size, the shape, even the details on the handle. But I also have to go out and advertise myself on a daily basis, to make sure I don’t go without a job. I have to regularly go to various websites and areas around where I live, show people what I can do, and offer my services wherever needed.

How did you get started?

Like most other freelance artists, I just went for it. I studied in various art styles until I found the one I wanted, studied on that one for quite a bit longer, studied some more, then went out and looked for people that were in need of my services. I looked at a couple sites, set up multiple profiles on various art websites, and got  my name out there.

What do you like about being a freelance artist?

I like that I get to work on my own terms, most of the time anyways. And I also like that I actually get to create something new everyday, and be able to see my finished artwork on something that people will see on a regular basis.

What do you dislike?

Winter. Not many people are looking for 3d artists around that time of the year.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

I make my money through a deal me and the person hiring me works out. They want something, I offer a price, we barter for a bit until we both come to a price we both agree on. Also, I get half of my money when I’m halfway done with my art, then the rest when completed.

How much money do you make?

I average around 1000 a month. Not much, but I’m still new.

What education or skills are needed to be a freelance artist?

Alot. You need to have an artistic ability in general to do this. Some people think because they can pick up a pencil and draw a cartoon they saw on TV, they should be able to get money for it. This is not true. Though I am specialized in 3d art, I have also studied figure studies, landscapes, color theories, drawing, pastels, paints, as well as many other things. So to be able to do this, you will need a lot of skill, patience, and a willing to learn and to take critiques on a regular basis.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Being able to work in general. Sometimes, I just want to sit and wander around the internet, or watch a movie, but you just have to pick yourself up and get to work. You don’t have a boss, so you have to be your own motivator, as well as your own supervisor.

What is most rewarding?

The most rewarding thing about being a freelance artist, is that you get to see your finished art be used for something that people will use or play with, or even just to look at. Its also nice hearing the ooh’s and ahh’s for your artwork.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Study. Don’t slack off and do a doodle or two a week, you will need to work on your chosen art skill almost every day. Look at reference pictures, study on your favorite artists, learn new techniques every day. In this field, you never stop learning. Also, don’t give up when you see that you don’t have anyone liking your work. Listen to them, or ask them what’s wrong with it, and improve yourself with those critiques. Take some classes as well. They help.

How much time off do you get/take?

Surprisingly, not much. Though I may not be doing jobs 24-7, I am also learning, advertising, practicing, and just studying in general.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That its an easy job that you do whenever you feel like it. Some people may be able to do this and live off of it, but most artists starting off wont be able to. Most artists starting out wont be able to live off of their art in general for a while, that is until they get their name out there.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

To get better at what I do. As I said before, you never stop learning, so I want to be able to learn as much as I can and become as experienced as possible. Oh, and to get more jobs on big name video games.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Its fun, though it can be tiresome. This is by far the best job I have ever had, I get to do my dream job: I sit at home and create 3d weapons on my computer. Though its non stop studying and advertising, when you get the hang of it, its pretty awesome, so if you want to do this, just go for it, and don’t hold back.

What do you do for a living?

I practice general architecture.

How would you describe what you do?

Architects are responsible for anything to do with designing a building or structure.

What does your work entail as an architect?

What I do normally do is I start the design and the project from the very beginning to where I hand it off to one of the other architects in the office where they actually do the working drawings and specifications. I do a lot of preliminary design where I’ll meet with the client, determine what their program is, analyze the site, determine what can be built on site, how big of a building it is, and the preliminary budget.

The greatest thing that I like about it is simply walking into a building after you’ve designed it…and realize that this was a figment of your imagination…Then when you’re done, you’ve got a building standing there. The old saying is, “Doctors bury their mistakes, architects get to drive by them every day.”

I then I do some preliminary building arrangements, or floor plans and elevations and sections so that you can actually see what the building will look like, how big it will be and how it’s arranged and how well it suits their program. It’s mostly done in the office, but of course we’ll meet with clients and go out to sites and I’ll also sit in front of the computer a lot and draw. But, as you get higher up in the hierarchy of an office, you do more client contact and marketing for things outside the office, where a young architect will probably sit there most of the day and draw.

How did you get started?

I actually got started in high school. My parents built a house and I got interested in construction and then I took architectural drawing in high school. And then, right after high school, I started working for an architect. I worked for an architect for six summers before I actually graduated from college. Then when I graduated I started practicing full time.

What do you like about what you do?

The greatest thing that I like about it is simply walking into a building after you’ve designed it. Turn the key over to the owner and realize that this was a figment of your imagination, it was just putting lines on paper when you started. Then when you’re done, you’ve got a building standing there. The old saying is, “Doctors bury their mistakes, architects get to drive by them every day.”

What do you dislike?

If you’re owning a firm, every two weeks, you’ve got to come up with a lot of money to pay your people and there’s a lot of peaks and valleys.

It’s a challenge to solve problems and to create something where there was nothing. I have been licensed 34 years yet every project is a new, exciting project, because you’re problem solving, and creating something from nothing, that’s the exciting part.

Sometimes you’re covered up in work and there’s sometimes when you’re scrounging for work. Just getting work, that’s the hard part. Once you get the work, it’s all fun from there on.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

Well, the owners are paying you to design their buildings and they can pay you a number of ways. They can do either a fixed fee, they can pay you hourly, or they can pay you a percentage of the construction costs. But, you get paid at the end of each phase of the work, you would bill them for whatever the percentage of the work that you’ve done to that point. If the project doesn’t ever turn into a building, then you estimate how much of the fee you would have gotten.

How much money do you make?

My salary right now is $150,000. That’s not what your employees would be making. Starting salary right now is probably $32,000 to $33,000. Then, licensed architects, usually licensed architects are making around $50,000. It varies between all of their capabilities .

Would you say there are any perks to this career?

I would say that being an architect or an accountant, or a doctor, or a lawyer, it’s just the respect you get when people think an architect. Most of the time, you’re treated like professionals.

What education or skills are needed to be an architect?

To practice as a licensed architect, you have to have 5 years of college to get a professional degree. After that, you’ve got 3 years of the IDP, which is the Intern Development Program, you’ve got to work under a licensed architect for 700 units and each unit is equivalent to one day. There’s 14 different categories of work that you have to get before you can take your exam. Once you complete IDP, then you can take the licensing exam.

What is most challenging about what you do?

I’d say that our challenge is to get good work. I mean there’s a lot of work, but a lot of it is not real rewarding as far as being good architecture. I think it’s real challenging to find good clients who want to do good architecture, that want to spend the money to do good architecture, that’s a challenge. Everybody architect wants to do good architecture and but you have to take less challenging work along the way so that you’re in business when the good projects come along.

What is most rewarding?

I think it’s just the creative process. It’s a challenge to solve problems and to create something where there was nothing. I have been licensed 34 years yet every project is a new, exciting project, because you’re problem solving, and creating something from nothing, that’s the exciting part.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Be willing to work hard, it takes a long time to get to the point where you can own your own firm. Never be satisfied with any solution. You have to be inquisitive, you have to be tenacious, you have to be pugnacious. You have to be willing to go through 5 years of an intense architecture school. It’s a hard profession, but it’s a rewarding profession.

How much time off do you get/take?

I only take off about three weeks. Now, anytime I need to go somewhere I can. I’m my own boss so I can take off anytime I want to. But, I don’t. I’ve got 10 weeks of vacation that I haven’t used in 5 years or so. The employees get off 2 weeks a year. Once they’ve been here 10 years, they can take off 3.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

Mostly the misconception I get is that architects are rich. They’re not, they work hard. We don’t live in ivory towers. We’re concerned about making money for our clients. It’s a business and it’s an art. We have to be good businessmen or businesswomen, because if you’re not, you’re not going to be in business. It’s also a very scientific process, adapting changing technologies to the building, to make them better. Then, the art of it, we have to be artistic, because of the product that we produce. I guess people maybe don’t understand that: the science, the art and the business.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

Of course, I’m at the end of my profession, so I guess I’m looking more towards retirement than I am anything else. But, if I was not looking for retirement, I think my goals would be to continue to do good architecture, have a positive impact on the built environment, keep some people employed, and make this a good place to work.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

I’d say that it is a very rewarding profession, if you’re willing to put out the effort, if you’re willing to stick with it. Just the joy of being able to see your work, it’s a real joy to walk by a good building or to drive by a good building and know that you did that.

What do you do for a living? I’m a Tattoo artist and piercer, I run a shop.

How would you describe what you do?

I guess the application of artwork to the human body would be the best way to put it. Making people happier with themselves.

What does your work entail?

Well, it’s considered a medical procedure, the basics. It’s regulated by the Health Department. We’ve got to be wary of cross-contamination, things like that. So, you’ve got to have at least some minor medical background. An artistic eye and talent helps. That’s the difference between a tattoo artist and a tattooist, which are two totally different things.

I’ve done tattoos on teachers, principals, police officers, politicians, as well as punk rockers, you name it. Just because you have a tattoo, doesn’t make you a bad person.

A tattooist can do anything they can see off the wall. A tattoo artist can take anything they can see on the wall and make it better. As far as an average week, there is no average honestly. As you can see our hours are different for example Monday and Tuesday 1-9, Fridays 1-11, sometimes we have a chance to get out of here early, sometimes we’re here until 2 or 3 in the morning.

How did you get started?

I’ve always been interested in stuff like this. Ever since I was a kid. But I’m from California too.

What do you like about what you do?

Diversity, meeting new people and doing new things, trying new techniques. Just not being held back.

What do you dislike?

Not everybody’s polite; some people are just plain jackasses.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated as a tatoo artist?

Commission. Some of them give a 50/50 split, some of them do a 60/40 split, it all depends on how the shop is set up. Sometimes you buy your own supplies, sometimes they buy your supplies.

How much money do you make as a tatoo artist?

I probably average somewhere around $30,000.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

You’ve got to go through a minimum of 6 months apprenticeship, Health Department requirement. Any art classes of course would be of benefit. And you’ve got to be willing to stick your neck out there and stand on your own two feet, literally.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Skin. You’ve got to be prepared to switch how you’re tattooing from point to point. The skin on your body can vary greatly, an 1/8th of an inch over is totally different than it was at the spot before. And if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can screw up a tattoo pretty quick.

What is most rewarding?

Having something to show for your work.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Prepare yourself. Usually you are either rolling fast or not at all, so make sure you set things to the side and you plan for the future.

How much time off do you get/take? It depends on what I need. I pay for my own vacations. We’re considered independent contractors.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

Only the bad boys and bad girls get tattoos, honestly. I’ve done tattoos on teachers, principals, police officers, politicians, as well as punk rockers, you name it. Just because you have a tattoo, doesn’t make you a bad person.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

To own my own place.