Piercing Wizard Podcast

Episode 58 with Ryan's Mom Cathy. I recorded this interview with my mom on mother's day. We get sappy and tell embarassing stories about me piercing myself in my teenage bedroom. Spoiler alert, I did lots of reckless stuff when I was younger. Please don't try this at home.

Episode 57 with Alex Wilkins of Guru Body Piercing in Brighton, England. We talk about Guru's dramatic growth from an external only shop to using some of the best brands in the industry. We also talk about how to give constructive criticism to colleagues and how open dialog is important for everyone.

Episode 56, Ryan goes to the Boston Tattoo Convention. It was a pretty busy weekend, so its a short episode this week. I talk about some of the planning that goes into piercing a convention, I talk about my seminar, and I take some Q&A at the end.

Episode 55 with Marc Williams, owner of the Piercing Emporium in Worcester, Massachusetts. They are one of New England's highest volume studios. I talked to Marc about how to manage the inventory and staff necessary to keep that kind of shop going, and how he grew the shop from a tiny rented room above a hair salon.

Episode 54 with Georgina Schiavelli of Black Diamond Piercing in Connecticut. Georgina got her start in a typical male dominated tattoo shop and eventually went on to create a piercing-only studio in her own image. We talk about her challenges and her success in creating a top level shop.

Episode 53 with Becky Dill of Cold Steel in San Francisco. We're teaching a class on piercing young minors at the 2018 APP conference, listen to our conversation about how we're planning for it.

Episode 52 with Cody Vaughn of Vaughn Body Arts in Monterey, California. Cody is currently serving on the APP's board of directors as membership liaison. We discuss a common issue in the piercing industry, clients getting light headed. Every piercer should know ways to prevent clients from getting faint, but should also know what to do in the rare situation where a client does pass out. Listen to our discussion of the lessons we've learned for making the client's visit as easy and safe as possible.

Episode 51 with Jim Sens of High Priestess Piercing in Eugene, Oregon. Jim is a long time piercer working at High Priestess, one of the industry's largest companies of high end piercing studios. Jim talks about what its like to manage a high volume shop, the importance of having a life outside of work, and how he performed over 200 piercings in a single day at work!

Episode 50 with travelling piercer Ed Chavarria. Ed was in New England for another guest spot at Piercing Emporium so we decided to get in another episode, this time talking all about aftercare. We chat about a little of everything from soap to soaks to saline. Stay sharp and stay clean.

Episode 49 with Aaron Pollack of Dandyland Piercing in San Antonio, Texas. Aaron is a piercer, the former head of the APP' social media committee, and the current APP secretary. We talk about using social media effectively, but mostly we talk about what the APP means to us in our careers. We also talk about War Eagle (its some sports thing).

Episode 48 with Lee Horton of Legacy Tattoo & Piercing in London, Ontario. Lee is a talented piercer and laser tattoo removal technician from Canada. We talk about boh of his professions, preparing a studio walk through video for APP membership, and the frustrations of a piercer trying to do their best in a market full of ...not the best.

Episode 47 with Buonantuono of Black Lotus Tattoo Gallery & Body Piercing in Hanover, Maryland. Matt was kind enough to host one of my seminars at this his shop and I was blown away by how nice it was. We talk trends in body piercing and chat about our jewelry preferences.

Episode 46 with Perry Doig of Rose Gold's in San Francisco, CA. Perry is a talented piercer known more for his work than for his online presence, and its intentional. We talk about piercing in the age of the internet and how focusing on real life experiences can be beneficial to both the piercer and the client.

Episode 45, a second conversation with Brianna Sheehan of Mint Piercing Studio in Iowa. This time we get into the hard work behind the scenes in a successful studio. Team communication and inventory management, and how apps and systems can make it much easier. Training piercers and counter staff. Is it better to start from scratch, or retrain someone with existing experience? And of course, jewelry. We talk a lot about how we learn from our vendors and how to apply those lessons.

Episode 44 with Brianna Sheehan of Mint Piercing Studio, Iowa. Last week we talked to Leo Ziebol, owner of Mint. This week we talk to his secret weapon, Brianna Sheehan, formerly of St. Sabrina's. She talks about her strategy when it comes to designing and ordering jewelry, and how inventory management can equal success. This is part one of our conversation. Stay tuned for our next talk where we discuss how to run multiple studios, and the challenges of finding and training quality counter staff.

Episdoe 43 with Leo Ziebol of Mint Piercing in Iowa. Leo has a great concept of what modern shops can offer. Mint is part of a newer generation of businesses to offer fine jewelry with installation services, rather than marketing itself as a "piercing shop". Its a great conversation about creating a store and a staff that expresses quality values with an emphasis on happiness.

Episode 42 with Miro Hernandez of Dandyland in San Antonio, Texas. We talk about growing your business by paying attention to what clients really want and giving it to them. We also talk apprenticeships, Tribalectic, and chihuahuas.

Episode 41 with Stefan Schomowski, the administrator for the Body Modification Exchange Network (BMXNET) conference in Germany. I have been attending BMXNET since 2008 and I love its unique atmosphere and community. We sat down at Unperfekthaus in Essen, Germany to discuss the history, growth, and philosophy that goes into BMXNET.

Episode 40 with Eduardo Chavarria. Ed is a top notch piercer who has worked in some of the busiest and best studios around. We sat down, on my own couch, and talked about the piercings we don't do anymore and why.

Episode 39 with Efix Roy of Progressive Mentorship and Empire Body Arts in Quebec City. I sat down with Efix after his Progressive Mentorship class in Montreal to talk about instructing, our growth from BME piercers to where we are today, and more.