Growth plan
How to structure sessions, and what brings in more business. Numbers use your prices from Settings.
The short version
- Make full days the core. At $1,800 for 8–10 h a full day pays $180–$225/h, sells your whole day in one booking and fits how big realism pieces are built.
- Half days fill in, hourly fills gaps. Half days are for single pieces and for days still open a few weeks out; hourly is for small work and short notice openings.
- Fewer empty days beats a higher price. Book sleeves and backs as a series up front, refill cancellations from the waitlist, and announce open dates and travel early.
The three session types
| Session | Pays per hour | Per day at most | Deposit | Best for | Good | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full day 8–10 h | $180–$225/h | $1,800 | $200 | Sleeves, backs, chest, big realism pieces | Most money per client, one setup, a day's work sold in one booking, fits how realism is built up | Long sitting for the client; a no-show or late cancel empties a whole day |
| Half day 4–5 h | $180–$225/h | $1,800 | $100 | Single pieces, forearms, smaller realism, first-timers | Easy yes for clients, two chances to fill a day, good for fill-ins | Two setups and two no-show chances to earn the same as one full day |
| Hourly 1–4 h | $180/h | $720 | $100 | Small pieces, flash, touch-ups beyond the free one, short-notice gaps | Fills a gap you'd otherwise lose; easy to say yes to | Least per day, most clients to find, more admin per dollar |
A studio week, three ways
Every slot filled, before costs. Hourly days assume two 2-hour clients (our guess). Full days and the mixed week earn the same when every half day sells; the mixed week needs more clients to get there.
What a gap costs
Your prices; the yearly line is simple arithmetic, not a forecast. Refilling one day matters as much as a price rise of 5% on a 20-day month.
A good week (example)
Off, or a travel day
Full day: sleeve or back, part of a series
Full day: sleeve or back, part of a series
Two half days: 1pm single piece, 6pm single piece
Full day
Full day, or split into half days if it's still open a few weeks out
Off: drawing, admin and posting the week's open dates
Four full days and one split day: $9,000 when it's all booked. Hourly only goes into gaps inside the next two weeks. On travel weeks, the same pattern runs in the guest city.
What brings in more business
Book big pieces as a series, all dates up front
A sleeve is 3–5 full days and a back 5–6. Picking every date at the first booking fills months of full days at once, and clients who already hold their next date rarely drift away mid-piece.
Keep open days for full days; split them late
Two half days pay the same as one full day only if both get booked, and each brings its own setup and its own chance of a no-show. Selling a half day on a far-off date blocks that day for a full day.
Hourly is the gap filler, not the menu
Hourly pays the least per day (two 2-hour clients = $720) and needs the most clients. It's right for small pieces and for the short notice gaps a cancellation leaves.
Offer cancelled dates to the waitlist first
With a 48-hour cancellation line, a freed date has to be refilled fast. People already waiting are the quickest yes.
Flash and open-date drops to the opt-in list
Small ready-to-go designs sell quick hourly and half day spots, and the people who ticked "flash drops and open dates" asked to hear about them.
Plan travel and guest spots as booking events
You travel a lot: announcing a city's dates early, filled with full days on deposit before you go, turns a trip into booked work instead of time off the calendar.
Ask for a review once it's healed
Reviews and healed photos are what new clients check before paying a day-rate deposit. Asking once it's healed gets the best photo and the happiest client.
Rebook at the chair
The moment a session ends is when a client is keenest to book the next one. A piece with sessions left and no date is the easiest booking you'll ever get.
Make the full day the best deal per hour
Today a full day, a half day and hourly all pay about $180 an hour, so the day rate isn't a visible deal. Artists who publish all three make the day cheaper per hour than hourly (one realism artist: $180/h but $1,000 for a 7-hour day). Showing the day rate first makes it the obvious pick for big work.
Look at the full-day deposit
The deposit is the only part of a no-show you keep. Yours is $200 on a $1,800 day (11%). Guides suggest 20–50% of the estimate; a Montreal artist at a similar day rate takes $400 CAD, kept and taken off the last session.
Protect your hands: cap needle time
Your full day runs 8–10 hours; others define a full day as 6–8. Studies of tattoo artists find most have back, neck and hand pain. Long realism days back to back, plus travel, wear you down and show in the work.
Built works today · Can build we can add it · Needs Vik needs your decision or your work. Impacts marked "estimate" are worked out from your prices, not measured.
Sources and research notes
What other artists and booking tools publish. Facts come from these pages; the advice above is our reasoning from them and your numbers.
- Bookedin: how to price tattoosBig multi-session work is often a flat full or half day; hourly can feel "like a meter running" to clients. Booking-software vendor.
- Tommy's Supplies: hourly vs flat rate vs minimumDay rates are for big projects of 6–8 hours; most studios take a non-refundable deposit, applied to the final cost. Supplier blog.
- InvoiceQuickly: invoicing as a tattoo artistDeposits often 20–50% of the estimate; day blocks for big work, conventions and travel; fatigue affects line quality. Vendor guide.
- Montreal artist's booking form (CAD)Half day (under 3 h) $900, full day (under 7 h) $1,500, "tap out" (over 7 h) $1,800; $400 non-refundable deposit taken off the last session.
- Brandon Kirkeby (realism) booking form$180/h, half day (4 h) $600, full day (7 h) $1,000, two back-to-back full days $1,800: the day is cheaper per hour than hourly. $150 deposit per appointment.
- Another artist's booking formHourly $150, half day $600 (about 4 h), full day $1,200 (about 8 h); $100 deposit covers one move with 48 h notice.
- Vancouver artist's booking formAbout $180/h, one-hour minimum for small tattoos; deposit kept with 48 h notice.
- Ashlin Cooke booking form$120 deposit on the last session; lost with under 48 h notice, 15+ min late, or moving more than once.
- Amity Ink cancellation policyCard on file: 50% of the session if cancelled 1–5 days out, 100% inside 24 h.
- Keester & Sommerich, Applied Ergonomics (2017)Over half of tattoo artists had neck, shoulder, wrist and back pain in the past year; most observed postures needed changing soon.
- ScienceDaily on the Ohio State tattoo-artist studySessions can run 8 hours; every artist observed went past recommended muscle limits; advice: more breaks, change position.
- Kluger, survey of 448 French tattooists (2017)65% back pain, 41.5% finger pain.
- Rev23 docs: waiting listStudio software uses a waiting list to fill cancellations; clients can stay on it across sessions.
- Artfolio: guest spotsDeals from chair rent to 50/50 or 70/30 splits; price at or a bit above local rates; announce the city about 14 days ahead, flash sheet at 10 days.
- Painful Pleasures: convention tipsConventions are very expensive for artists; many pre-book the show so the work is guaranteed.
- StyleSeat: how tattoo artists get paidA flat price per piece is common on guest spots and flash days.
- Wikipedia: anchoring effectThe first number people see pulls their judgement; showing the biggest option first makes the others feel reasonable.
- Salon Today / Booksy no-show survey (2021)Salon no-shows without notice were about 1–2.4% by US city. We found no independent tattoo no-show figure, so the page doesn't use one.
- Middlesex-London Health Unit: beauty and body artLondon's health unit inspects tattoo studios under the Personal Service Settings rules (O. Reg. 136/18).
- TaxTips.ca: GST/HST small supplierHST registration is needed once sales pass $30,000 over four quarters. Check how it applies with your accountant.