The Creative Workplace: Lessons from an NYC Tattoo Shop

The Creative Workplace: Lessons from an NYC Tattoo Shop

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane

Guest: Mikhail Andersson, Founder of First Class Tattoo, NYC

This episode of At Work in America is sponsored by Paychex, one of the leading providers of HR, payroll, retirement, and insurance solutions for businesses of all sizes. The only constant in business is change, and 2023 will be no exception. That’s why hundreds of in-house compliance professionals at Paychex compiled a list of regulatory issues that could impact businesses the most this year to help you prepare. In our guide, find out about federal and state regulations and programs that may affect your business and your employees in the coming year, so you can take appropriate action now. Visit paychex.com/awia to check it out, today.

This week we met with Mikhail Andersson from First Class Tattoo to talk about how the perception of tattoos in the workplace has evolved through the years.

– Challenges of being an entrepreneur in New York City

– Workplace issues across different types of organizations

– Advantages of allowing visible tattoos to workplace culture

– Future of the tattoo industry

To learn more about First Class Tattoo – visit here

Thank you for joining the show today!  Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Transcript follows:

Announcer 0:25
Welcome to At Work in America sponsored by Paychex. We welcome a wide and exceptionally impressive array of guests, business leaders, HR leaders, academics, practitioners, consultants and authors to talk about the most timely, relevant and challenging issues that are influencing the workplace today. At Work in America digs in behind the headlines and trends to the stories of real people making a difference in the world of work. And now here are your hosts Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane Steed.

Steve 0:58
Welcome to the At Work in America show. My name is Steve Boese. Hi Trish McFarlane. How are you today?

Trish 1:03
I’m good, Steve, how are you?

Steve 1:05
I am well. Trish, I think this is going to be my favorite show of the year. I can tell already. I love the subject matter. We’ve had a chance to talk to our guests a little bit prior to turning on the recording button. This is going to be so cool. We’re going to be talking about tattoos, the tattoo industry whether or not there’s any stigma left about being tattooed in work in workplaces and lots of other things with Mikhail Andersson, who is a real, bona fide top level tattoo artists in New York City. I can’t wait to welcome into the show. We will welcome in one second. Trish, we must think of course our friends at Paychex and more in my opinion. As a matter of fact, this episode of At Work in America is sponsored by Paychex, one of the leading providers of HR Payroll, retirement and insurance solutions for businesses of all sizes. Even the most seasoned professional can easily be overwhelmed by the critical tasks that need to be done during year end. But you can download the Paychex year end checklist to get organized. in it. You’ll find timely tips, important deadlines, and advice backed by decades of experience to help navigate this time of year so you don’t lose momentum as you transition to 2023. Please visit paychex.com/awia to download your copy today.

Steve 2:20
All right, Trish, let’s welcome our guest. We’ve had a chance to talk with him for a few minutes. I’m excited to welcome in Mikhail Andersson. He’s our guest today. He’s the founder of First Class Tattoo in New York City. He was born in Russia started tattooing back in 2008 and 2012 He moved to New York City to pursue his passion where he quickly mastered the art of color realism. His styles extend from striking full color landscapes, to grungy, edgy Trash Polka sleeves, which I did not know what that was until this morning when I looked it up. When he’s not killing it with tattoos. He enjoys playing guitar and piano biking and painting. Mikhail loves working on large pieces as he’s able to capture more detail and elements Mikhail. Welcome to the show today. How are you?

Mikhail Anderson 3:03
Thank you. I’m great.

Steve 3:04
I’m gonna tell you what. l\Large pieces is right. We’ve both before the show we checked out your Instagram, we checked out first class tattoos.com. You guys do some amazing killer work. So just kudos for that just right off the top that amazing stuff you guys are producing out of that shop.

Mikhail Anderson 3:21
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Steve 3:23
Yeah, our pleasure. Mikhail, so we got a little bit of the background. I’d love maybe to learn a little bit more about what led you to thinking tattooing is awesome. And it’s cool. I think you must love it. But, you know, did you grow up saying this is the thing I want to do? Or did you kind of find it I’d love to hear a little bit of the backstory What led you to to start tattooing and then ultimately to create First Class Tattoo in New York City.

Mikhail Anderson 3:49
Okay, so I went to college for graphic design after I finished high school. And I had a lot of tattoo artist friends, I would hang out with them. I would spend time at a shop but I worked as a graphic designer for actually a year, year and a half in a big company and I was doing business cards designs. We work with international brands like buyer, like big brands, and I mean, graphic design is a little bit stressful because you basically have timeframes and you kind of push to do what the brand wants. And for me when I hang out with the tattoo artists, it was almost like people are doing insane art on somebody’s skin and given more freedom and I love the lifestyle of the people in that industry. So I spend a lot of time on the shops and then the guy I spend time with he was a tattoo artist been tattooing for many years. He was a friend of mine. That kind of pushed me to an industry. I was really drawn to it. I’ve seen people travel around and they tattoo in shops in different countries. They spend Although other life doing art, so me I started tattooing was kind of helping the shop where I was and my friend on the little space in, it was back in Russia. And then I was still doing graphic design. I was doing freelance because I quit a company. I couldn’t do both. And then I kind of moved toward tattooing full time. And then once I built up the clientele, I started traveling, I started going around and been to Europe, been to Spain, been to Germany, work in those countries. Been to Israel visited a lot of shops made friends. And there was a thing Facebook and MySpace and you just add people on MySpace, it’s not a thing anymore, but where you kind of kept connections. And when I went to, to New York first actually, it was a trip just to go around and see how the shops are and meet new people. But then I got offered a job and I got offered a job in Miami, and ended up living in Miami for two years, worked in a street shop and did a lot of did a lot of walkins did a lot of clients every day it was it was busy was the after effect of the Miami show.

Steve 6:12
I remember that show. Sure. Right.

Mikhail Anderson 6:14
Well, people are lining up I was in a shop across the street from Miami and the shop of salvation tattoo. So it was TV screens on a Windows the shop doesn’t doesn’t have the place there anymore. They sold it because it was too expensive and all that stuff. But we had lines of people and it was me and two other people that actually both are top tattoo artists in the world. We’re killing we’re sitting there every day. And tattooing tons of people getting like 1000 in cash and tips and go party after and we live the life it was like it was like a year you know, me moving from Russia from like, different kind of lifestyle to war, Miami when people come there for like a spring break. And there’s a bunch of young girls guys, everybody’s in a party mode. Everybody is excited the same TV shows about tattoos and they want to get something that was most like small stuff, or it’s hard to do portfolio pieces that I can show to somebody but it was just practice, practice. It was a lot of tattoos every day, but then it kind of happened then after two years of being there. I just outgrown it. I had to move. I wanted to move to LA or to New York. I wanted to grow, do bigger stuff. And there was a point for me. moving to New York, it was a little bit easier. I knew some people, they helped me to rent an apartment.

Mikhail Anderson 7:41
So I moved to New York in 2013. And I basically got a job I flew for an interview got a three interviews in three different shops. All the shops were great. And then I chose one because it was a little bit slower. Because the first shop I went to was exciting. And it was so pack those people working back to back was like 10 people in a small room and they’re like, Yeah, sure, come work with us. But New York, everything is much smaller. You know, everything is expensive. Everything’s small people are packed up cramped up, and I was like, I chose the shop that was more comfortable for me. And so we, me and the girl I dated back then we moved. And then it was the shop did a little bit of like different style from people we were doing in New York because New York tattooing was illegal until almost 2000s And the first shop first shops in New York were in 1998 1999. It was bikers, it was gang culture and cops. They made it illegal. The government made it illegal Philly in New York, tattoos came to those city of the last in America. Because California and Hawaii, tattoos were there and 40s 50s and sailors and people that travel that come and get traditional pieces. But New York, it was a lot more gangs, a lot more street stuff. And they didn’t want all these interactions or shootings and like, even when I moved to New York, there was not many shops as it is right now. There was kind of pioneering it was all traditional Japanese in the industry. And I came to the shop and I work at a shop that did watercolor and it was the only shop in New York, Philly or Connecticut that did something abstract different than something else.

Steve 9:36
I think back then Mikhail, a lot of bikers weren’t coming in for watercolor tattoo scenes right on their arms.

Mikhail Anderson 9:42
For sure not it was it was a couple of shops like a block away from us. They were like one was hardcore tattoos. One was the did Japanese and it was all only Japanese or traditional. And when somebody at your shop does watercolor, and I didn’t do any watercolor Back then people will meet you in the street and be like, where you work. I’m like, Oh, like this shop. And they’re like, oh, that like whatever, like some trendy bullshit like you people are doing. And then after working there for sometimes I’ve outgrown the shop and got hired to probably one of the biggest tattoo shops in the world. My goal was, I never been happy in the workplace that I’ve been because tattoo industry is very competitive. It’s a lot of artists there. They have their own views. And in the industry, a lot of people like to party. And sometimes it’s hard to work with creative people together. When it’s a lot of creatives they bump heads, especially when they’ve been in the industry for many years. It’s always like a conflict. It’s always like a, like an ego between certain people. So my goal was to create a better space, so that I went that direction, I had to save up the money and look for a space and I’ve opened a shop of my own.

Steve 11:06
That’s First Class Tattoo, the shop you own now?

Mikhail Anderson 11:09
Yep, it’s been six and a half years is going to be seven years in May of next year, since I own the shop.

Trish 11:17
So thank you for sharing the story. I mean, I have like a million questions, obviously, because there’s so many little nuggets there that I just wasn’t even aware of in terms of, you know, how long it’s been around and the different styles, but but the one that that just keeps coming to mind, as you’re talking is, you keep mentioning, like the workspace. And you mentioned earlier that, you know, when you made the decision to move to New York, that you were looking for a more comfortable workspace, right in order to be creative. And when you went out on your own now it sounds like same thing, right? You’re trying to make a more comfortable place for not just you but for the other artists to be in that that’s a theme that we hear no matter what business we’re talking to. Right. So it’s interesting that for your industry as well, it’s very important about the place and the way in which you work. Do you have any I don’t know, maybe two or three little things that you think you’ve done that really set First Class Tattoo apart in terms of the way that you’re letting the artists be creative and not have those conflicts as much like what are you doing to kind of alleviate some of that pressure?

Mikhail Anderson 12:27
Well, we try to be a family I mean, the pressure is still always going to be there because it’s creative people you know, and it’s hard to work with creative people but sometimes I feel like especially right now after COVID. People try not take their mental health to a new level and they need some time off if they need a time off you cannot be strict with them. They if they want to travel and get inspired, they have to go travel and get inspired. Even there is rent to pay and all other stuff. But I mean we try to go and do some stuff together and we did it in the past few years we would go and just outside work we’ll go do bowling, we’ll go do some fun stuff. And I’ve been trying to connect with people because I work is different people come and they’re so focused and stressed out because they have to deal also with the customer services like you need to please decline and be with the client and when there is 10 other people next to you. It’s kind of hard you know, and something doesn’t work, something breaks. But my biggest thing that I think I’ve made and I haven’t seen any shops that do it I’m there all time. I am there almost every week every day and if I’m not there I have somebody there that I know personally for more than 10 years. That is there text me all the time. I know it’s hard on my mental health sometimes and but I want to make sure that everybody has what they need and everybody has what they want and want to be aware it’s I mean perks of running the business but if somebody has an issue or conflict I will catch it before even slips out and we’ll have a conversation and try to find the solution.

Mikhail Anderson 14:11
And I’ve met with a lot of workers separately and had the talks and try to not even help with the work but sometimes it’s personal life and a lot of personal life gets in the way. And sometimes you work in a team and we’ve had situations I learned from them. When somebody is dating somebody and they have like an issue at home they bring it to work but they don’t also bring it to work they put it out on everybody and sometimes like the leadership and being the leaders you need to be also a mentor and help them with their life or given advice or just take them out for dinner or be involved you know a little bit at least something they feel better about themselves they feel better about their life and then the the shops atmosphere of the shops. Have is getting better. And I’ve I’ve taken apprentices to and I’ve learned a lot I’ve taken apprentices even before I had a shop was I had my first apprentice, and I had an idea that I am not going to take this with me, I have to teach people. And I’ve learned from apprentices. And it’s been many, it’s been more than 10, or 12. And every single one I think is better. But I’ve learned so much from each one of them. And the whole process of me teaching and communication and people have been ups and downs. Because sometimes people come when they’re young when they’re 18. Some people come on their own, they go into being an apprentice and learning for a few years and being broke or not having clients. It’s a big sacrifice.

Steve 15:49
Oh, interesting. Mikhail and Trish as well, like, you think one of the things I found so fascinating about some of the things, Mikhail shared is that there’s so much consistency in the issues that matter to people in workplaces. And it doesn’t even really matter a ton, what type of workplace it is, we could be talking about a bank, we could be talking about a store, we’re here we’re talking about a tattoo shop, right. And those issues about take, you know, mentoring and training and developing and sort of caring enough for the people who you work with and work for you to kind of lift them up when they need it and to understand them right and get to know them a little bit so that you’re there for them. That’s consistent right in any kind of business. And we’ve heard so much especially in the last couple of years, around the issues as McHale mentioned mental health and how people are looking for that kind of support and workplaces. It’s remarkable remarkably similar to some of the other stories we’ve heard over the last couple years. McHale we wanted to get to one other area, at least before we let you go, which is a little bit about its recently, it’s maybe 20 years ago, right? And you’re talking about what the climate was like in New York City and tattooing and maybe just become legalized right in the city. That it still was a lot of bikers a lot of you know, guys who worked at the dark or whatever getting tattoos it wasn’t it hadn’t yet kind of arrived in the mainstream now I feel like it kind of has I feel like I don’t I do not have a tattoo. I will admit this on the show, but hopefully Macau you can help me out. So at some point, because I’m gonna go I’m gonna get on that waiting list, I promise. But the now it seems like it’s is it okay, do we do people who in professional jobs or other types of careers? Are they worried? Do people come into Humacao and say, hey, I want this. I want this kind of tattoo. But make sure I can cover it up completely. When I’m wearing my shirt or my suit is that still the thing that you encounter in your work?

Mikhail Anderson 17:43
I was back in my country everybody as a male is mandatory to go to military right so we get like all the tests and all other stuff and had to get physical exams and for us tattoo was like being taught that it’s a criminal thing that is like this and this that people in jails get tattooed. So I was in the industry, I got a few tattoos when I first got a got all the tests, they took me to, to a therapist to like, talk to me, why did I get tattoos and you have to talk to a psychiatrist and all that stuff to explain them why you have a tattoo and I had like a maple leaf on my neck that I got when I was 18 or 19. And the keep asking me like all these questions and when I first came to America, I was in North Carolina, South Carolina tattooing and you go to the beach, people see with like tattoos and they will come and stop you and be like, Hey, do sell we are like you’re a part of the game something. And it was all the time questions like that. But you know, in big cities, like later on, you will go on the street and people will stop on bikes or cars and see like a bright tattoo. They’re like, holy shit, this looks amazing. But still, all generations have that thing when I was funny story. I was signing for a lease and I was going looking for places around all the landlords of buildings are old. I’ve met with a few people. They’re like, oh, so what’s your business? I’m like, it’s going to be a tattoo shop and the lady like seven years old, she’ll be like, no, no, no, I don’t need those motorcycles and those gangs in my building. And this was 2016 and I’ve heard that a couple of times, not one time it was a couple of times and it was always with the landlord’s their past seven that on the buildings or whatever manage the buildings in Manhattan.

Mikhail Anderson 19:34
So it’s a thing but me basically I’ve tattooed a lot of high class I tattooed a lot of actors, models, bankers, people that work in Wall Street, people that sell oil, people that own oil companies and people that were sued sometimes you don’t see what they have, but they can have a back piece of a hole, apocalyptic scene or something else as You never know. But it’s been more and more acceptable. And right now, I don’t think anybody cares, unless they’re touches on a face and kind of people accepted it, they’re fine with it. It’s been all over TV shows commercials everywhere. And tattoos are more than just like something that they got as like a spiritual thing before being in a gang or something else. It’s, it’s a memory, it’s a piece of art. And for me, it’s a piece of art and purpose of artists to heal. And the purpose of art is to feel better feel better about yourself, too. So sometimes you get a piece and you look at yourself, you feel better, and I’ve had people that had mental issues that we’ll get to, and feel better about themselves. So I’ve really, like had funny things when I tattooed somebody like a big piece, and I would walk in a bank and the person was the owner of the bank and me walking in there seeing the person in a suit sitting there. I’m like, Holy shit, I just had to do like a week ago.

Steve 21:05
Okay, yeah,

Trish 21:06
I’m glad. I’m glad that you talked about art can sort of heal you that the art can heal you. Years ago, we had a woman on the show. This is like 10 years ago, and she was talking to someone who wasn’t a tattoo artist, but about like, she wanted to get a tattoo. And she was asking this person about, where should I get that on my body. And the person’s advice was get that on the part of your body that you like the least. Or maybe you have a scar or something that makes you insecure? Because the tattoo in other words would like heal you in terms of the way that you see beauty on a part of your body that you’re not very confident about. Could you just talk a little bit about that? I mean, do you see people coming in who might have scars or just other things? I recently read that Dolly Parton I do not know if this is true that that Dolly Parton has tattoos all over her body to hide different scars? Is that something that comes up for you as an artist?

Mikhail Anderson 22:02
You know, I did the same when I wasn’t even a tattoo artist. The first two tattoos I did, it was basically to cover the scars that you don’t feel comfortable, confident about yourself. I mean, I did first tattoos as myself as like with a machine but the the professional tattoos I got was with a scar. And if you’re in a relationship with somebody, or you go into a public place a beach or swimming pool, and you have a big scar, sometimes some people like now I don’t care. But before I did care, and I didn’t feel confident about myself and I would always try to wear a shirt or something else just to hide the scar. Because even like right now I have a scar on my knee. That was from an accident. But I go somewhere people see it, right? And they’re like, oh my god, what happened to you and start asking you questions, but it’s sometimes it doesn’t put you in the right place. Because I mean, what happened was not a nice thing. And they kind of like it hurt me it still hurts me even it’s been many years ago, and I have a giant scar from it. So we do get a lot of clients that and I’ve had crazy stories of people doing self harm. I talked to the girl many years ago that actually wrote a book about the how religious organizations hurt people and she was in the Jewish community was born in the Jewish family, traditional Jewish family and got out and then they harassed her chased her try to like murder her or something else. And she from the stress the phone calls, she would cut herself. And she came in to me in 2015, I think or 14 and she asked she’s she was scared to take the sleeves up. And she was working a normal job back then. But now they now they own a center that helps people being heard by religions in downtown Manhattan, but she was scared to lift the sleeves up. And she’s like, I want to get a tattoo just to cover this because I don’t feel comfortable by myself. I don’t feel comfortable talking to people because I go to a store and people see the scars. They’re like oh your cycle. And she got a tattoo and she brought me a book sign that she wrote and she was like thank you so much. I feel so much better about myself. And we’ve chatted for many years, the sharp me people that got after surgeries that got belly tuck or something else and many other scars something from an accident that they don’t like and they don’t feel comfortable or confident about themselves and tattoos do hide the scars.

Mikhail Anderson 24:49
I have two big scars, one on my arm and two literally covered it and you can see you can only feel if you come and touch the skin. You can feel it’s extra or that there is something that is missing there from the skin because it’s not flat. But even from couple inches away looking at it, you would never say that there was a scar there. So that’s that’s really like a big topic and I had people I was talking, before we recorded I was talking a story that I bumped into somebody in the city and I do it every day I go, if I go somewhere, I would bump into old clients or something else. It’s kind of like a fortune. Sometimes it’s not because I’m like, I want to be by myself. But you go, somebody’s like, Hey, you texted me like six years ago, 10 years ago or something. So I was in a central park yesterday. And this guy is like, it was dark, it was late. And this guy was on a bike. And he was like, Oh, hey, Mikhail that ever happened to me in the best memory. And, you know, kind of melts my heart every time that I hear stuff like that.

Steve 26:13
It’s a great story. Mikhail, thank you for sharing it. With us. It’s awesome. It kind of kind of reminds us all like, because everybody’s coming in there, right with a story right? There’s something right? Whether it’s the dog or it’s the scar that they want to cover up or it’s it’s, you know, memory of their mom or their dad. But one thing we learned this last one, I want to ask you, Mikhail real quick where we talked about I was reading on first class tattoos.com You have a lot of advice and frequently asked questions, etc. About the process. And after care of the tattoos and things like that on the on the website, look how you guys recommend, hey, maybe not a great idea to get the name or the portrait of your significant other tattooed on you. I’d love for you to just comment on that. And like, what if I walked in there and said, You know, I want that, you know, I love so and so on my arm. What would you tell me? No, don’t do it.

Mikhail Anderson 27:04
I tell everybody. Well, that’s the thing. I don’t know why as many years I worked in the industry for 15 years, and I’ve seen a lot of stories and each single story when people walked in and got it done. Something happened to it. It’s almost, you know, everything is like, everything is so universal. We’re so connected and there’s energy and it’s almost you trying to bring that person with you. You go in against the university going against the laws. The God just trying to like take them with you. You put in their name, you know, you’re trying to bring relationship instead of leaving up to the higher force you trying to just chain yourself. And yeah, so I’ve literally I’ve seen my best friend has his ex’s name and a little traditional tattoo tattooed on him. He has been with her for 16 years since high school. And when he got it done two months later, they broke up. I have heard stories all the time of people getting matching rings something else but I don’t know I think it’s I think it’s very, very like deep subject. Maybe some somebody covers it better. But I think it’s kind of like on a spiritual level. Please, to anybody don’t get your pet portraits before they pass away. Even I tried to learn Yeah, and then don’t get if you married or dating somebody don’t get any matching tattoos or signee significant other names, or something else. It just it’s kind of a bad luck. You know, I feel like tattoo is kind of like a spiritual thing. And you can go in deep and look it up. But sometimes people get something like a symbol or something else and their life changes, you know, and some people will even it could be they just overthinking. But it could happen like that. You can go and go to somebody who is like a spiritual person. And they’ll tell you like, why did you get this done it like changed your energy changed your life?

Steve 29:15
Well maybe get a tattoo of a beach or something instead of regret because you could always go back to the beach and the girl might be long gone. Right? That’s kind of the lesson we’re getting here.

Trish 29:25
Hey, Mikhail, I have one last question because I know we’re gonna be wrapping up but in terms of and I don’t mean like what’s trendy but like, for the future of tattooing, obviously, it’s changed a lot in in the last 20 years or so that you’ve been involved in that, you know, it’s becoming more mainstream. What would you say is something that’s like cutting edge when it comes to tattoos, not necessarily trendy, but what’s something that is or a style it’s becoming very cutting edge? Maybe people are trying to learn to do it or just some sort of a technique or anything like that?

Mikhail Anderson 29:58
Well, I think The industry evolved in that stuff. And it’s been styles that come up and push each other every year. It’s been fine line five, six years ago. And then it was watercolor a little bit more than that. And maybe now it’s going to be a Trash Polka. But I think everything right now is returning back to kind of old things. Like if you look at photography, the film photography in the past year and a half, it’s been a big thing. And the stores are booming. They film commercials in Hollywood on film cameras, just because it has that different feel, you know, we’ve been the tattoo industry evolved so much, we’ve been using machines that are completely wireless pants that almost like you have a brush in your hand. And you just said to you, you’re so marbled, I can go in the mountains and talk to somebody, I don’t need the power, I don’t need anything, I just need the ink, paper towels in caps and a tattoo machine with a battery. And the battery lasts for a day. And I can set to an airplane or helicopter anywhere else. private jet, somebody flies me in private jet. I’ll talk to them. But the thing is that people have been driven to kind of the stuff that we don’t have anymore. Like something that is authentic, something that looks a little different. They’ve been doing movies and films on film, and it looks different because nothing can replicate. I mean, you can put 10 million filters and put a post production but it still doesn’t have that field. So I think a little bit and in the back of my head that something like two Bori like a handbook like like a traditional or back to traditional coil machines, we’ll see still eventually come make a comeback.

Steve 31:52
I know I don’t want to hold you up any longer. Mikhail but yeah, that’s a great analogy made to film. In fact, we just did a show on one of our other titles that we do where I was talking about the Kodak Company was scrambling to hire people who knew how to process film and chemists who knew how to film chemistry works because there had been a resurgence in demand for normal, traditional film both for cameras and for movie cameras. And they hadn’t even anticipated that they were making still a little bit of it. But all of a sudden they’ve had to make a lot more film and they didn’t have people who knew how to make film honestly right. And developers so yeah, it’s fascinating. Mikhail, this has been fantastic. We’ve been lucky enough to be joined by Mikhail Anderson. The website is firstclasstattoos.com. You can also find the shop on Instagram as well as on Instagram you’ve got to check out First Class Tattoos amazing art both from Mikhail and you’ve got a number of men half a dozen other artists I think are so I saw on the website that work with you and just any kind of style you want. Big pieces big you know expressive pieces custom pieces, they do it all and it’s incredible stuff Trish, I don’t have a tattoo I mentioned at the top of the show, I’m ready I’m going to try to I’m gonna get on the waiting list and I’m coming to see Mikhail. That’s my promise I am hopefully good because we all get admitted I’m a big baby that’s that’s the main problem like the pain spirit.

Trish 33:15
You should do it because I found that even though mine are not big pieces you know if I could have if I had a job like where I could have had a full sleeve I would have because I feel like it’s like once you get one it’s almost like an addiction there’s like a you just get this surge of energy and because it’s meaningful like Mikhail was talking about it’s like it means something and I don’t know it’s like you want to get more so be ready you get that first one you’re gonna wait for10 years you’re gonna be all covered.

Steve 33:49
I’m gonna do I’m gonna come to New York and see Mikhail and get on the list. Again, Mikhail for taking some time really, really interesting stuff and good luck with everything at First Class Tattoos are we hope both of us to see you in person, hopefully soon. Like this year. 2023 That’s let’s make that happen.

Mikhail Anderson 34:07
Okay, sounds good.

Steve 34:08
Thank you so much. Interesting. This is a great show. Trish, you’re my tattoo expert. Thank you for helping me here. And I think you’re ready to go for your next tattoo too.

Trish 34:18
It sounds like I am. You know, it’s funny too, though. I think that I love I love that Mikhail that you all do the watercolor and that you sort of learn that. It’s been a number of years but I was thinking of it more in terms like I have my very first tattoo that I got when I was like 23 Maybe that needs a little like love and like redoing if you will I always kind of thought like wouldn’t that be cool to have like watercolor tattoo over it the other one is like my kids I have twins and they just went away to college and so I’m I would like something that kind of like a commemorate that right? This idea of your children kind of going off into the world so it’s not that I don’t want another one. Absolutely. I’m gonna get one I gotta figure out what I need. You know?

Mikhail Anderson 35:01
I figured out touching up and reworking a tattoo is a great idea. I did a lot and people feel more happy sometimes you just have some like an old piece and refreshing it and redo something so it all makes so much better you know?

Steve 35:16
Thanks again so much to Mikhail Andersson from First Class Tattoos. Make sure you check it out when you your next tattoo should be at First Class Tattoos. If you can get on the list. Good luck. Hopefully you can. We’re gonna go see him in New York City as soon as we can as well. Thank you to Mikhail and everybody who made this possible. Thanks to our friends at Paychex of course. Thank you Trish and thanks everybody for listening to the HR Happy Hour show and At Work in America and we will see you next time and bye for now.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai