Customer Story
How a Multi-Studio Tattoo Artist Saves 50 Hours a Year With Better Booking Software
Asher Chen books 300 clients a year across three tattoo studios. With InkDesk, the admin side of that barely takes any effort.
Asher Chen
Tattoo Artist & Studio Founder · Vancouver, BC
Boo Radley · Mockingbird Tattoos · Naughty Comrade
@luckyboytattoos10 min
saved per booking
50 hrs
of admin saved per year
$12,500
in unpaid admin eliminated
20,000+
new followers gained
Quick Snapshot
The Problem
Before InkDesk: Google Forms, Instagram DMs, and Lost Clients
Asher was piecing together his booking process with Google Forms, Instagram DMs, Google Drive, and email. Nothing was connected.
“I was using Google forms for my intake questionnaire, and the hassle of having to go back-and-forth finding a time that works for the appointment, having their appointment booked and spending 10 minutes on Google forms, trying to find the right form so I can see the reference photos was just too much.”
Reference photos were the worst part. Clients would send them through Instagram, which meant they could disappear at any time.
“People would delete their Instagram and I wouldn’t know who I was tattooing, and they don’t take you seriously so sometimes they don’t send a deposit.”
Then there were the same questions, over and over. “How much do you charge?” “How much would a sleeve cost?” “How far are you booked out?” Every reply to those was time that could’ve gone toward actual tattooing.
Asher is straightforward about how his ADHD made all of this worse. When he already knew the process was going to be a hassle, he’d put it off.
“The more difficult the process the harder it was for me to start the process.”
That meant client requests would sit unanswered. Sometimes too long.
“Sometimes I would even lose clients because I had procrastinated replying to their form so long that they went with somebody else.”
The Solution
Why InkDesk
“Every single thing I need is in one place.”
Asher Chen
That was it. Requests, reference photos, email threads — all in one spot instead of scattered across four different apps. Even though Asher doesn’t use every feature InkDesk offers, it replaced the juggling act.
He also built a workflow around it that fits how he actually works. He set up a phone shortcut so responding to bookings is almost effortless.
“I have a shortcut created on my phone so it’s one click and then I use talk to text to answer my emails. Bookings take me a minute to send back!”
The features he gets the most value from are the preview icons (seeing client reference photos at a glance) and the FAQ section, which handles all those repetitive questions before clients even send them.
“The preview icons, the FAQs are amazing so now I don’t have to waste replies answering the same things.”
He also picked InkDesk over competitors because the team is reachable and actually builds what artists ask for.
“I asked for the changes I needed and the team made it happen!”
The Outcome
The Results
Asher did the math:
“I would say that it saves me probably 10 minutes per client that I had get booked in. I take about 300 clients a year. Which means I save 50 hours a year. I charge $250 an hour. So I saved $12,500 in admin time I don’t get paid for.”
Asher Chen
“And that’s only calculating the time saved on the client I do book in. Not considering the potential clients I would’ve lost with the less efficient system I was using before.”
The FAQ section alone changed how clients reach out:
“People don’t message me to ask questions anymore. They just messaged with the booking to let me know what they want thanks to the FAQ section.”
“It’s painful to watch my other tattoo artist friends who don’t use InkDesk wasting their time answering stuff like this.”
The Impact
What Changed Day-to-Day
“Made it so streamlined. I mostly just worry about tattooing. Answer a booking request or two through talk to text and that’s it. I feel like booking tattoos is not even part of my job anymore.”
Asher Chen
With the admin work off his plate, Asher put that time into marketing and content creation.
“So I focus now on marketing. Creating content, videos. It could be a coincidence but I gained over 20k followers since using InkDesk.”
He is the founder of three studios — Boo Radley, Mockingbird Tattoos, and Naughty Comrade — each with a completely different feel. Boo Radley is a warehouse-style open concept space with maximalist decor and French provincial furniture. Mockingbird Tattoos is two floors of soft leather and metallic embellishments. Naughty Comrade is “your grandmother’s living room vibes” where clients’ friends fall asleep on the couch.
Managing bookings across all of that used to mean sitting at a computer, digging through Google Drive. Not anymore.
“I don’t have to sit at a computer to do my books / look through Google Drive when I design my tattoos. I can just click the shortcut for InkDesk and look at what’s tomorrow.”
The cumulative effect is what matters most to Asher:
“The security I have in my clientele, being able to raise my rates, be pickier with my projects, focus on marketing, it has a cumulative effect that’s hard to measure.”
He also trusts that InkDesk won’t let him down when it counts.
“The creators are so easy to reach. Friends of mine have used companies where the owners are not the developers. They had a system crash, and my friend couldn’t figure out anything that had to do with her job / who she was tattooing the next day. And that would never happen with InkDesk.”
Artist to Artist
Asher’s Advice to Other Artists
“People need to understand that the faster it is from the point client messages you, till they’re booked in and send the deposit, the more you’ll make/earn/can charge. Every single back-and-forth with a client reduces their chance of actually booking in. The longer you wait between those messages, the less likely they will book in.”
“And if you’re waiting to answer your messages or DMs or Google forms because it’s a hassle, you’re losing money, and the trajectory and potential of your career. From eight years of tattooing, that has been tried and true.”
“The faster you get from point A to point B. The faster you’ll be able to charge more and more have more security.”
Get Started
Try InkDesk Free for 30 Days
Asher books 300 clients a year across three studios. The booking side takes him minutes a day. If you’re still buried in DMs and Google Forms, see what changes when everything is in one place.
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