$ 5,000 Dollar apprenticeship ?

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Trynmydamndst
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Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:52 pm

I recently found a person willing to make me there apprentice for the price of 5000 do you think its a rip or what
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Freddie
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Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:24 am

I know of guy's that have paid almost twice that and I know of guys that have apprenticed for free. It all comes down to if the artist is reputable, and the situation that the would-be apprentice is in.

Is the information in a thorough apprenticeship WORTH 5,000 dollars? Absolutely. That said, is it a rip off? Not in the least
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buttwheat
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Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:35 am

Trynmydamndst wrote:I recently found a person willing to make me there apprentice for the price of 5000 do you think its a rip or what
I paid way more than that for my training for my job. The question to you should be do you feel comfortable that this person can teach you to become what you want to be? If your answer is yes than $5000 is well worth it. If not save your money and find someone else.
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MattCrunk
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Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:58 am

I have heard of people trading cars and trucks for apprenticeships, and others paying 10 or 15 thousand dollars cash up front.

In my opinion, anyone asking for a large sum of money (or goods) to apprentice you is likely a lot more interested in your wallet than in having you around as their apprentice. We've heard horror stories on this very forum from people who've laid down large sums of cash for their training only to realize a few months in that their "mentor" was only interested in their money from the start, and had little or no interest in actually training them.

Is the right apprenticeship worth $5,000? Unquestionably YES! It might be worth even double or triple that. But to a shop owner who's genuinely interested in having you as an apprentice, your service to him or her during that apprenticeship (doing shop chores, cleaning, counter work, and eventually tattooing) is worth a lot more in the long run than five grand in quick cash.

Just choose wisely.

This might be worth a mention also: Not saying it applies in every case, but when I'm approached by someone I have no interest in apprenticing, I'll sometimes throw out a high dollar figure like $5000 or $10,000 just to get rid of them without actually having to tell them they have zero potential as a tattoo artist.

I'll say this for sure: The better your portfolio when shopping around for an apprenticeship, the better deal you'll likely be offered.

Don't haul around a tattered, dog-eared stack of half-finished sketches and expect to impress anyone. Put together a real portfolio of neat, clean, and professionally presented FINISHED artwork, preferably in a tattoo-related style.
Trynmydamndst
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:40 pm

Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:21 pm

I have known this paticular artist just about my whole life. well at least sence 4th grade (my whole artistic life) and I'm sure my wallet isn't really what she is interested in. She was a shop owner for quite a while and just recently retired a few years ago she owned, New Creations, in Chico Ca. I know she has all the knowledge I need to become a reputable tattooist and some, she has the knowledge of owning a shop, which she is willing to share her knowledge and experience with that as well. (priceless) in my book. my only concern is the five grand It's deffinetly worlth every penny, but accessing those pennies is the real problem. You might be right about the brush off technique. I know that she is a busy women and would more than likely rather spend her time painting or something more retiree. either way though I was offered the apprenticeship bad portfolio or not so maybe it is worth digging through the couch to find that five grand. do any of you know any other good shops in chico or oroville Ca. I might check in on
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MattCrunk
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Sat Dec 20, 2008 12:14 am

If you've known this person for a long time and have a good relationship with her, why not sit down and negotiate a deal with her that could be worth a lot more than five grand in the long run - like a silent partnership in a new shop.

Offer her a situation where she would help you set up a new shop and train you in a true shop environment, then once you're fully trained, she could step aside and let you run the place. At that point she could lay back and enjoy her retirement while still collecting a percentage of net profits for an agreed upon period of time, such as five years, ten years or whatever.
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Freddie
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Sat Dec 20, 2008 2:16 am

Matt, she may just not want to deal with the "day-in-day-out" dealings of a shop. If it were me, I'd just keep shopping around. Plenty of artists will take "time" as opposed to money (which has been discussed on here before at length). I know that's how I did it, and that's they way I really feel it should be done.

The reason I don't think that the "new shop/silent partner" idea would work is because if he's having a hard time fathoming 5,000 bucks for an apprenticeship, he doesn't seem like he's in a space financially to start financing a shop from the ground up, either.

In any case, I'm also a bit against an artist that goes directly from "apprentice" to "running his/her own shop". IMO, that artist in question is going to lack certain experience that he's going to need to properly and successfully run a business. IMO, the best thing for an artist to do after their apprenticeship is to work as a "hired gun" for a few years (whether it's in the shop they apprenticed in or not is really up to them/their mentor/their agreement), take the time to learn the ins-and-outs of the daily running of a shop, watch the main artist/owner and how they deal with things, and learn via osmosis.

I know plenty of folks that went directly from an apprenticeship to running a shop and generally, those are the folks that have a rough time making it. Obviously, that's not always the case, but, IMO, why take the extra chance?
Trynmydamndst
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Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:40 pm

Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:53 pm

Thats a great idae matt I think she would actually consider something of that nature. BUT Freddie is right my money situation is lacking for building a shop from the ground up. I believe 5 grand isn't to much infact matt had a point about it being worth twice even three times + I guess the facts are that an apprenticeship is hard enough to find, so being prepared to put out the bucks to finance your future should be something that should be considered when hunting. The way I see it, is if you would pay to become a writer, a zooalagist, or a nurse you should really expect that you would have to pay to become a tattooist, and really I actually might have the feeling that if someone didn't wan't money (or service like shop helper) for example, the info or knowledge they are willing to teach you may not really be worth anything.
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