We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicholas Rexrode. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicholas below.
Nicholas, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I feel like my experiences over the years of tattooing have shaped my work ethic more than anything. I never want to feel taken advantage by a business owner or or seen as a dollar sign to someone, so really I just focus on my happiness and what I need my life to look like to feel fulfilled, and of course my clients’ happiness and what is fair to them. If those two things can jive, that’s usually the best result for good tattoos and happy people in my opinion.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a tattoo artist located in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been tattooing full time for almost 12 years, although most of that time was around the Atlanta area. My fiancé and I moved here about 5 years ago, and have been thriving ever since! I feel like what sets me apart from other tattooers first and foremost is I don’t consider myself a one-trick pony! No disrespect to anyone that has only one style they stick to, but I came up in tattooing when it was still important to know how to do everything. If you could only do one style, you may only tattoo once a week and it’s really hard to make a living that way. Social media wasn’t as huge of a thing as it is now, so I had to become well versed in every style if I wanted to tattoo everyday! But ultimately, I think my clients would say it’s the way they feel when they’re in my space, and the care I put into their ideas! I try really hard to build relationships with everyone who trusts me to tattoo them, and I always want everyone to feel comfortable, safe, and as painless as possible when they choose me to tattoo them. I’m from the south, so hospitality is a huge thing. So many people have bad experiences with tattoo shops and standoffish unexperienced artists, especially in central florida, so I try really hard to get to know everyone that I tattoo.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Overall, I would say it’s that I realized you can learn something from everyone. Not every place you work or everyone you work with is going to be a positive experience, but it’s important to go through the negative also- even if it’s just for a season- so you know how people want to be treated and the best way to approach or avoid different situations. I worked in some really rough places as well as some really great places, and there are a million little nuggets of wisdom you can pick up in all of them. The most important thing, I think, is to have that experience of different environments. If you only know of one way to do things, or one way to run a shop, or one style of tattooing, whatever it may be, you will probably never know the best way to advance or be the best you can be, because you come from such a narrow minded perspective.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
It’s so important to have perspective! I think a lot of people in my generation have a hard time with anxiety and coping and for me I always just need to take a step back and realize what a small little speck of life we are in the grand scheme of things. Travel is a great thing for stress and feeling overwhelmed because you recognize that everything is what you make of it, and you can literally pick up and start over if you really needed to. The world is huge and usually our problems are not, and for me the person who helps me with that concept the most is my fiancé. She is probably one of the most care-free, bubbly, free spirited people on the planet, so anytime I feel like a problem is to big, or I have too much on my plate, I come home to her and her attitude and smile are both contagious, and it’s just really hard to stay in a negative space for long with her. The positive energy she exudes just radiates into my life, so if you can be lucky enough to find a partner who builds you up like she does for me, do that!
Contact Info:
- Website: tattoosbynicholas.com
- Instagram: @TattoosByNicholas
