← Living Your Legacy
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- [00:00]
Morgan Butler
Most tattoo artists say about themselves, I'm a tattoo artist, but I'm not a business person.
- [00:04]
Sam
Exactly.
- [00:05]
Morgan Butler
But they say it as if it's a fact that can't be changed and that's not true.
- [00:10]
Narrator
Morgan Butler is the faith driven entrepreneur behind Exodus Tattoo Company, a Christ centered studio where art, purpose and healing meet. As a tattoo artist, business coach and devoted mom, she's helping others break through limitations, build meaningful success and live in alignment with their God given purpose.
- [00:26]
Morgan Butler
I can teach you how to run lines or do color the way that I do it all day long, but if your mind is not right, you're never going to sell it, you're never going to sell yourself and you're not going to be an entrepreneur. You could be good at what you're doing, the art, but if you're not good at the mental side of it, you'll drown like I almost did.
- [00:43]
Sam
What were some of the lessons and big takeaways for everyone listening that has helped you in the last couple of years really pivot and go from almost selling, quitting, giving up to now thriving location?
- [00:55]
Morgan Butler
Yeah, that's a good question. I would say one of the biggest ones that I remind myself of every day and will all forever use is.
- [01:07]
Sam
It spans the globe like a super highest cold Internet Elvis.
- [01:11]
Podcast Intro/Outro Voice
Ready for free.
- [01:13]
Sam
Today, Apple is going to reinvent.
- [01:17]
Podcast Intro/Outro Voice
It's not over until I win. The Living youg Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago with the lead. Usain Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.
- [01:46]
Sam
What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Legacy Makers. Sat here with Morgan. She has her own tattoo studio. Thriving entrepreneur. She's an educator, leader in the base, teaching other people how to master the art of tattoos. You get it? Let's see what I did there. Anyway, Morgan, welcome to the show.
- [02:02]
Morgan Butler
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. I'm really excited.
- [02:05]
Sam
So look, you know, I love having artists and artistic, creative people in this chair because I'm very creative, artistic too. Most of them have a great passion. They're very, you know, inspired and creative and amazing at what they do at their craft. But they suck at making money. Right. And they suck at building a business and, and they get suckered into this, you know, position where they're so good, but then they just can't figure out how to break the mold. And you obviously have.
- [02:34]
Morgan Butler
Yeah, and I'm glad you said that because that's something that's such a huge problem in the tattoo industry, specifically because most people say like, or most tattoo artists say about themselves, I'm a tattoo artist, but I'm not a business person.
- [02:50]
Sam
Exactly.
- [02:51]
Morgan Butler
But they say it as if it's a fact that can't be changed, and that's not true.
- [02:56]
Sam
Yeah, well, and you're. You know, the reason I bring that up is you're kind of leading the way in your industry, in the education space. Right. So you have, obviously, seven artists under you in your studio, and you're educating other people and expand into more, like, you know, courses and education now. So let's hear about your journey. Right. You didn't just jump to that. You probably started, it was an inspiration, then got stuck like most people, then had to figure the business part out.
- [03:22]
Morgan Butler
Yeah, I had some really humble beginnings. I was not always even a good tattoo artist. I struggled a lot in the beginning. I almost even quit tattooing more than once. And, gosh, it would take forever for me to tell you the whole story. But long story short, I started when I was 18 and I started apprenticing for. It was about a year, a year and a half. I was at the same. The same studio and didn't end up working out very well. And at that point, I almost quit because I was trying to teach myself, and I sucked really, really bad. Like, terrible. And I. I knew it. So I kind of backed off and was like, you know, maybe this just isn't for me. And I ended up, gosh, I was working, like, three jobs at one point just to, like, stay afloat and keep my. My lifestyle. And, yeah, I ended up getting reintroduced into the tattoo industry and. And continuing to work towards just getting better at the craft itself. Tattooing is really hard. I'm. People might not. Might look easy. You know, when you're watching someone do it that knows what they're doing, but it is hard.
- [04:34]
Sam
Well, and you can't mess up either.
- [04:36]
Morgan Butler
No, you cannot erase.
- [04:37]
Sam
It's not like a piece of, you know, an artist and you just throw it out the paper.
- [04:41]
Morgan Butler
Exactly. No, that would be horrifying, actually, if you try to do tattoo your client. Yeah. So it's just like, you know, that was my main focus for a long time, was just get it good at tattooing. And, oh, my gosh, when I look back, like, I went through all of the emotions and all of the thoughts that I now see other artists going through that I got past, and I'm like, man, I was that person. I. I was not a business person. Or I wasn't a business person. Like, I kind of just created that in my head.
- [05:15]
Sam
Well, I think that's interesting point, because anyone listening, whether in tattooing or not, art or creative space or not, you know, what you classify yourself as is going to become your reality. I always teach your perceptions, your reality. So, yeah, if you're a hairdresser or a tattoo artist and you say, yeah, I'm really good at cutting hair, but I'm never going to be an entrepreneur. Well, guess what? You're never going to be an entrepreneur.
- [05:37]
Morgan Butler
Exactly.
- [05:38]
Sam
So how did you jump? Right, because very few have. And not only did you jump, you know, built a thriving studio, you've got a big team under you. You know, you guys are cranking out thousands of tattoos a year, I imagine, right?
- [05:50]
Morgan Butler
Yeah.
- [05:51]
Sam
How did you jump to that?
- [05:53]
Morgan Butler
I used to live in Cincinnati, Ohio, and that's where I tattooed for a long time and for almost half my, or actually a little more than half my career. And I wanted to open my own space. So I moved here to Florida, actually, just to do that. And I was feeling pretty good about it. I went through hell to open my shop. It was during COVID It was terrible. It was really rough, but opened up and about year and a half to two years, I think. Actually it was like two years in. I had gone through so many artists, like, could not figure out what was going on. I was like a mess. I was going through a lot of different things happening during that time. And I really, at one point was like, about to, like, quit. I was like, I'm selling my shop. I tried and it's just too much, like. And I feel like I'm just not, like, amounting up to what I need to be doing to run a successful business. And I can't hold, like, good artists. Like, just everything in my head was just crumbling.
- [06:58]
Sam
Yeah, sure.
- [06:59]
Morgan Butler
And I actually encountered a class. It was called tbm Tattoo Business Mastery. And I kind of took a leap of faith and signed up for it. I was hesitant because it wasn't cheap. Obviously, you know, people don't give information away for free. So I was like, man, you know what? I'm either going to do this and save my business and my career, or I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing now, which isn't working. So I just decided to go ahead and do it. It was, I think it was six or eight weeks long, once a week, meetings. And upon the first meeting, the first week, I already, like, things started changing and I started shifting the Way I believed by the end of that whole eight week course, I mean, it changed my life. And it was, you know, it was presented as a business, tattoo business course. Right. So in my head I'm like, how to run my business.
- [07:58]
Sam
Sure.
- [08:00]
Morgan Butler
But it was so much different than that. It was something I did not expect. And although there was a lot of people, there have been a lot of people that took that course that have kind of complained about, like, it's not kind of what it's like advertised. And I'm like, yeah, it's not. And that's the best part. So mindset, it was more about the mental, like kind of fixed, like in here first and in here. And that changed everything.
- [08:29]
Sam
It seems like that's what a lot of, you know, I see a lot of entrepreneurs need in the marketing business space. And I'm sure it's the same in, you know, the creators.
- [08:39]
Morgan Butler
That's the thing is it doesn't matter what career, like I could really coach. It doesn't really matter what area that you're in, area of expertise. It's all kind of the same mental game that we play with ourselves. Whether you're an artist, whether you're just straight up, like corporate, business, businessman. I don't know anything about the corporate world, but I bet you I could coach someone after hearing some of their issues and their blocks, how to get out of it.
- [09:06]
Sam
Yeah.
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Morgan Butler
Even though I know nothing about what they're actually doing, because it actually has nothing to do with that. That comes after.
- [09:12]
Sam
Yes, the fundamentals.
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Morgan Butler
Exactly.
- [09:14]
Sam
Mindset side.
- [09:15]
Morgan Butler
Yeah.
- [09:16]
Sam
And so let's fast forward. So you take this course, stuff turns around. Right. You switch your brain, you change your outlook on life and business, I guess, and the studio mindset shifts and now you start hiring, keeping people. You're growing. Yeah.
- [09:31]
Morgan Butler
I was just never the same after that. It was insane. And that's what made me want to go into coaching myself because I was like, number one. I've never seen anyone else do a course like that. And the man that was running that course, he's the only person that I've ever seen in the tattoo industry. Like plenty of artists do, like seminars and stuff, like on tattooing.
- [09:51]
Sam
Yeah.
- [09:52]
Morgan Butler
But they don't talk about the other stuff. They don't hit those things that, like, I thought nobody else understood. Like, I thought that was just like me that felt that way. And he hit all of those. So for me, I was like, man, like, I want to do that. And especially, you know, a couple years later, I think it was two years ago that I did that. After that, it's almost like it also just helped my mind, like, open up to so much more. And I was like, okay, now I can take what I learned here and apply it and teach it, but I can also now I have so much more to add that I've learned along my journey after, like, opening myself up to. To that mental part of it. So, yeah, that's what made me want to get into coaching and not just teaching. I love teaching tattooing, but I want to be able to do both, like, in tandem, like, teach tattooing and teach the mental part of it. Because I can teach you how to run lines or do color the way that I do it all day long. But if your mind is not right, you're never going to sell it, you're never going to sell yourself, and you're not going to be entrepreneur. If you're. You could be good at what you're doing, the art, but if you're not good at the mental side of it, you'll drown. Like I almost did.
- [11:01]
Sam
Yeah. Yeah. So, so, so that's. That's all. So then you're building now to seven, right? You're at seven people. You're gonna, you know, go online, start this, you know, the education side and really teaching and impacting thousands of people probably in the industry. What, what it. What were some of the lessons and big takeaways for everyone listening that has helped you in the last couple of years really pivot and go from almost selling, quitting, giving up to now thriving location?
- [11:28]
Morgan Butler
Yeah, that's a good question. I would say one of the biggest ones that I remind myself of every day and will all forever use is you have to become very clear, be clear to yourself about what you want, what your goal is, what you're even trying to do. Because many people, if you ask them, what, what do you want? Like, what do you want in your life? They don't even know.
- [11:53]
Sam
Yeah.
- [11:54]
Morgan Butler
So figuring that out bring clarity to what you actually want in your life. Making inspired decisions, making inspired moves, meaning those decisions that you jump into need to be backed up by inspired, a belief that you're actually capable of it. Not just a dream of, like, I wish I could do this. It's like, no, I want this and I'm gonna do it. And then you have to make that first inspired move. That could be really terrifying and scary, but you have to make the move. And, man, those are like my biggest. Two biggest things.
- [12:32]
Sam
No, I love those two. Let's do the flip side. While we're here. What. What are the two or three biggest mistakes that you see everyone making that.
- [12:39]
Morgan Butler
You'Re fixing with them saying, I can't do it?
- [12:42]
Sam
Okay. Yeah.
- [12:43]
Morgan Butler
That's the first problem. As soon as you say that, like you said earlier, as soon as you say I can't do something, well, you've just completely taken every possibility out of. Off the table for yourself.
- [12:54]
Sam
Yeah.
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Morgan Butler
You know.
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Sam
Yeah.
- [12:56]
Morgan Butler
So saying that I can't. Waiting for the right time.
- [12:59]
Sam
Yeah.
- [13:00]
Morgan Butler
Because that is. There's no such thing. Every day, every time is the right time. It's always the right time. If you feel it, you know, if you feel it in your soul that it needs to be done, it's the right time. And probably comparing yourself to other people, because comparison game is really dangerous, and that can make you not even jump and do something because you saw somebody else doing it better than you, but odds are they went through that.
- [13:28]
Sam
Yeah, yeah. And what. So what are some tips if there's someone listening that, like. Because I think that applies to every entrepreneur, not just tattoo artists.
- [13:35]
Podcast Intro/Outro Voice
Right.
- [13:36]
Sam
So someone's listening and they keep procrastinating because they're not ready or it's not the right time. Okay. So that's number one. And then say. The second thing is they are comparing themselves to, like, oh, I can't launch my business. Cause, you know, look at Rudy. He's somewhat established than me. With, you know, nearly 100 employees. Right. It's very easy to look at the big people and put yourself down. What tips would you give them to work through that?
- [14:01]
Morgan Butler
I would say break it down into smaller things. Right. Because a lot of times when someone's not doing something, they're looking at this next move.
- [14:12]
Sam
Yeah.
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Morgan Butler
As such a huge, like, undertaking.
- [14:15]
Sam
Yeah, yeah.
- [14:15]
Morgan Butler
And if you just break it down into even just a. These are my first three things I'm going to do to begin this journey. They could be the smallest things. And you take those first few steps, it starts minimizing how big this giant task becomes.
- [14:29]
Sam
I think it's kind of great with the tattoo side because some people come in and they do want, you know, full sleeve or full body. Right, full upper body.
- [14:37]
Morgan Butler
Yeah.
- [14:37]
Sam
And when tattoo artist knows, well, that's great, but we're going to start somewhere. Right. And build up. And, you know, I obviously don't have tattoos, but I have friends that do. And even when they get a sleeve, it's broken into phases. Right. That I see some of them. So it's kind of the same analogy that, you know, don't. Hey, it can seem overwhelming, like tidy in your messy bedroom, but it's like, well, let's just start in this corner.
- [14:59]
Morgan Butler
Exactly, exactly. And you can even say, like, learning how to tattoo. You have to start with small stuff. No one's gonna just start tattooing a new full sleeve. Yeah. You'll overwhelm yourself. And then here's the other part of it. You start with something so big and you're looking at this, like, huge task, and you're gonna immediately deflate yourself because you're expecting yourself to get this huge thing done that. I don't care. You could look at anybody who has some crazy multimillion dollar business. They didn't come out of the womb. And having this business, like, ready to go. They took the baby steps and worked up to it. I have one of my artists that. I remember this night, we were talking and she wanted to start this clothing line business. And she'd been contemplating this for a couple of years, I guess, or a long. I don't actually don't even know a long time. Long enough to where she kind of was telling me about it. And it's. To me, it sounded like she knew she wanted it. And I was like, well, why haven't you done it? And she's like, it's just like a lot. And I was like, well, break it down. Like, what do you need to do to start it? Well, I need this much money. And I laughed because she's an artist. And I'm like, we make good enough money. You could have done this ten times. You're silly. So that calling someone to mock up your first. What is it? Prototype design and just doing a photo shoot of that and start there. And she was. I was like, so why aren't you doing it yet? And she's like, I actually don't know. And I'm like, now it sounds kind of small, right? She's like. And you know what? The next week she had someone picked out to start making her designs.
- [16:39]
Sam
Even using that example, it's like, I think it just seems so complex and scary, but like, to use that as an example. Yeah. The money, you know, you can save and whatever the prototype mock up. You can get people online for fifty hundred dollars. That will do stuff these days, right?
- [16:54]
Morgan Butler
Yeah.
- [16:55]
Sam
You know, and then. And then the photo shoot, you can get a couple of your friends, right. And come help with that.
- [17:00]
Morgan Butler
Exactly.
- [17:01]
Sam
Do that all the time when they start, you know, they have friends and family come help and. And yeah, I think whenever an entrepreneur starts, whether they're in Creative space or a product based industry or coaching. When you've gone through it, you look back how simple it is. But when you're at the bottom of the mountain looking up, you think, it's such a big hike.
- [17:21]
Morgan Butler
Right, Right. Yeah. And that's the thing that I want people to understand, just like from my personal experience. And then people close to me is like, I was there. And there's still many, many, you know, new projects that I'm working on that feel huge even now. But now I've kind of learned to like, relax myself and wrap my head around it, whereas before it seems so much bigger than it was.
- [17:47]
Sam
Yeah, you'll approach it differently. And just as you've already learned, in three years, the big thing now will be small, you know, Exactly.
- [17:53]
Morgan Butler
You kind of find that formula like, okay, this seems huge. Break it down into the first three things that I can do to get this started. And we'll start there.
- [18:02]
Sam
Yeah.
- [18:02]
Morgan Butler
And it helps a lot.
- [18:04]
Sam
Yeah, I love that. So last few questions as we wrap up today, we've talked a lot about your growth and personal development and how to approach, you know, break these things down for newer entrepreneurs. What, what is the legacy side for you? What does it mean to you and what impact you want to make?
- [18:19]
Morgan Butler
Man, you know, in the tattoo industry, there's not a lot of people I don't think like me that want to do what I want to do. I don't just want to teach people tattooing. I want to leave the tattoo industry better than I found it. And not just that, but I want to leave it as more inspired that I found it.
- [18:39]
Sam
Yep.
- [18:40]
Morgan Butler
Not just, you know, with the art, there's so many amazing artists out there. But I want everyone that encounters one of my coaching sessions, one of my seminars, me, just in general, I want that to, I want them to be able to take away everything that I've learned if I can just give it to everyone I can in this industry so that they can pass that along. So even when I'm, you know, retired or even gone off the earth, there are artists teaching what I was teaching, you know, during my time.
- [19:14]
Sam
Yeah, I love that.
- [19:15]
Morgan Butler
And whether or not they realize it came from me or not, I don't care about that. I just, I hope that it can change the way that people see the tattoo industry because we're not just, you know, these grungy street artists that are just like, you know, we came up in the slums, like, we are developed into a fine art.
- [19:33]
Sam
You know, I think the whole industry is way More, like, very different in the last 10, 20 years. Oh, yeah, way more. Yeah, it's definitely the more advanced, changed. Yeah, yeah. And it's like you said, it's probably financially, way more opportunity too, you know, like, yeah, the amount you can charge and now with social media, you can show it off better and.
- [19:54]
Morgan Butler
Exactly.
- [19:56]
Sam
So, last question I really have about your episode. We talked a lot about, you know, more the education side and how you're teaching and empowering others with the mindset and the coaching, but what else are they going to get from the episode and your story and all of that?
- [20:11]
Morgan Butler
Oh, I hope that I can let everyone know. Like, I've had many people look at me and I. I'm telling them, you know, how they can make their career better and they're just like, well, you're just good at it. You just, like, know what you're doing. And I want them to realize I have not always been that way. I want to be able to relay that in a way that's like, you know, this is where I started and this is how I got to where I am now. And even now, I still struggle with these things and these are how I handle them. As someone who is in a boss position, because it doesn't ever end, you're always going to have those things in your mind and the doubts and imposter syndrome. And I just want people to understand that no matter how successful you see someone being, especially on social media, because what's portrayed is not always reality. And I want them to understand that, you know, I'm still working on myself to this day and can still do it successfully and have a thriving business. And I hope that other tattoo artists, small business owners of all kinds, it doesn't even matter what you're doing, really. This, you know, applies to anyone. I hope that they can walk away with at least the inspiration to go ahead and make that first move that they've been thinking about or have written down for months or years or just. Just do that thing that they wanted to do. So I hope that I. Gosh, if I could even get, like, one person to do that after watching my episode, that would be great.
- [21:46]
Sam
I love that. Good. Yeah. I mean, that's what it's all about, right?
- [21:50]
Morgan Butler
Yeah, exactly.
- [21:51]
Sam
I can tell you're very passionate about giving back and getting people through the same struggles you had because you've seen how it's changed your life. Right? Which is, yes, most people in legacy makers, we have that in common, that we came from, you know, some form of adversity suffering, failure, getting stuck in some way. And then we figured it out and saw the impact it could make to others. So, yeah, love that. So, last question. If they want to check out the studio you have or maybe the course side and learn more about it, where do they find you?
- [22:22]
Morgan Butler
My Instagram, Morgan B. Underscore Tattoos. That's where you can find most of my information. My content links to my website as well. And then I also have my Exodus Tattoo Company page, which is my shop business page, which I have amazing artists there. And there's really good content there as well. And I'll be posting my own content on there.
- [22:43]
Sam
So there you go, guys. Another episode in the wrap. Go check out the full episode. And as always, keep working hard to change lives and build a legacy. I'll see you soon.
- [22:51]
Podcast Intro/Outro Voice
Sam.