Feeling lost, mid thirties

[PastelPixie]

Hi all. Thanks for having me. I’m feeling a bit lost right now so if anybody has been in a similar situation to me and has any advice that would be much appreciated.

I’m a tattoo artist by trade, self employed and have been for the past 6 years. It only really started taking off after the pandemic when I started working in good shops, so coming on 3 years technically of doing it with no side job for financial support. I’m good at my job, love it and have great returning clients. I managed to do well to save some money and build up savings, but by end of year 2022 they’d all but gone due to cost of living etc and since then work has been very slow. It’s been a year now of struggling to get steady work and I’m in a constant state of worry about money.

As I’m getting older (not old by any means) I’m starting to think of the future future. Our industry has been hit hard by the cost of living crisis and while I’m confident it will bounce back eventually, I’m beginning to crave more stability in my life in regards to my finances and job. Being self employed we don’t have a pension, sick pay etc and even if I wanted to tattoo full time forever, when I got to a certain age it wouldn’t be viable due to the toll it takes on the body. So one day I will have to go part time or find another job regardless. I have no savings put aside and I can’t afford to, I’m working the equivalent of a part time wage right now and I am trying everything to build my business but it’s very difficult at the moment.

This is where I’m struggling. I’m wanting to get some irons in the fire now. I have a university degree but it’s useless and it’s nothing I would like to take further in regards to my career. I can’t afford to go back to uni again. Right now I’d like to possibly get into something part time alongside tattooing that I could potentially make into a career one day. I’m not ready to give up on tattooing yet but I’m also aware I can’t keep this up much longer in terms of financial and mental health aspects.

I’m just having trouble of thinking of anything I’d enjoy. I know there’s nothing out there I’d enjoy as much as tattooing in terms of job satisfaction but what I’m looking for is something I somewhat enjoy (or fully, you never know), in a sector with good job prospects with the scope to work up/promotion, security and stability. I looked at graphic design but a lot of places need a degree and I’ve heard the industry is competitive and not well paid. Considered the NHS due to room for promotions but again, a lot of the roles require degrees and only a few appealed to me (those in which degrees were essential) Currently looking into civil service but I’d need to research job roles a bit more.

I’m a creative person so I need variety in my job and something that challenges me where I have to use my brain. If I do the same thing day in day out I know I won’t stick to it or enjoy it. I’ve done my time in retail/customer service and I’m well and truly over it so those roles are out. I actually do really enjoy working with people but more on a one to one personal basis or with small groups. I can chat to my clients for hours and build good relationships.

I’m empathetic, good listener, patient, like helping people. I’m not very savvy with any advanced technology (so I’d struggle with digital marketing, websites or coding) but I am confident with all the basic computer stuff. If I can find something that I’m somewhat passionate about, has room for progression and good career prospects and where I can maybe make a bit of a difference in this world, that would be good.

Sorry for the long post but I realised the other day how quickly time is passing and I have no security for the future, and it kinda scared me. If anybody has any job suggestions or anyone has been where I have that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

I thought about that myself so I’ll definitely look into it!

Yes I can see that the money and also the time involved are a barrier - it’s a real shame. (My therapist is an art therapist which makes me a bit biased - but I do think it’s quite something.)

There is an Apprenticeship route, not sure if that is any use?

https://www.tees.ac.uk/postgraduate_courses/art_&design/msc_arts_therapist(degree_apprenticeship).cfm#

@PastelPixie I'm not sure about graphic design, I don't work in that field but in a different discipline in the UX/interaction/content design job family.
These might also be good options if you prefer something visual, especially UX or interaction design. There are courses on Code Academy, Udemy and lots of other open source platforms, but you'll also need to get some work experience and a portfolio. The civil service and the likes of NHS and other public organisations have apprenticeships too.

Re comms/PR/marketing, there are so many different jobs within those fields, some are nothing to do with selling. Marketing tends to be more about driving sales but PR is more about managing reputation/branding, or you could be in a comms role where you manage media relations, or the organisation's messaging to the public, websites, social media, or you can also do internal comms where you manage information within the company (things like internal newsletters or magazines, communications messages from senior management to staff etc)

The roles are also very different depending on where you work - you can be in an agency where you're doing work for multiple clients (this tends to be more fast paced and stressful) or in-house. You can be in house in a private company, or a charity, university, a local authority, NHS, you name it. Pretty much every medium to large business or organisation these days has some form of marketing/PR/comms function.

If you want to do graphic design specifically there's the Open College of the Arts which offers both distance degrees and shorter courses, they let you pay in instalments and are now accredited by the Open University. I can't vouch for how good the courses are as I haven't done one but I was considering it at one stage. You pay as you go module by module so if you don't like it you can always quit and not lose money.
Some local colleges also do evening or part time courses.

That's just a quick summary, you can read up on each different discipline online as there's far more info than I can put here.
Hope you find your thing!