I’ve been tattooing for over 20 years and one of the thing that still fires me up most is respect. Not the fake Instagram “much love bro” respect—the real kind. The kind you earn by staying until 4 a.m. scrubbing tubes, building machines, and watching a tattoo you poured your soul into heal perfectly because you refused to half-ass it.

Back in the day, you didn’t open a shop three doors down from someone who’d paid their dues, and worked their ass off to legalize tattooing in their town. You didn’t snake your mentor’s clients the week you finished your apprenticeship. That wasn’t “hustle.” That was being a scumbag. Unfortunately, these days, its much more common place to see these tactics.

Delray Beach is popping right now—new signs going up every month. The town is busier than ever, yet rent and bills just keep on rising, Growth is great. Growth without respect is cancer.

The Real Apprenticeship

A real apprenticeship is 95% humiliation, 5% actually tattooing. You mop the floors daily, stretch skin and trace designs for thousands of hours, and learn real quick that this career you’ve chose isn’t about being a rock star. Buying a machine on Amazon doesn’t make you a tattooer any more than buying a chef knife makes you Gordon Ramsay.

Every good artist I know can still hear their mentor’s voice in their head when they’re about to rush a stencil or get cocky. That voice is the chain that keeps this craft from turning into just another TikTok filter.

Real Competition, Real Respect

Walk into a real tattoo convention and it still feels like church. Legends who’ve been at this longer than most “Instagram artists” have been alive are just quietly tattooing at an untouchable level. Nobody’s flexing. Everyone leaves better. That’s what competition is supposed to feel like. Real recognizes real.

Growing the Right Way

Delray doesn’t have to sell its soul to grow. New shops, new styles, new blood—bring it. Just don’t pretend the sidewalk was empty before you showed up. Respect the people who kept the lights on when this street was dead. Respect the clients who are trusting you with something permanent.

At Vatican Tattoo Studio we’re not trying to be the “coolest” shop, although it’s pretty damn evident that we are. We’re trying to do it the way we were taught: slow, clean, proud, one perfect tattoo at a time. Stay busy, treat your clients with respect, and RESPECT THE PAST! Take care of tattooing, and remember those who came before you. The ones that keep tattooing alive, and helped to build it up to what it is today. Tradition is everything.