Tattoo Shop Business Plan: A Copy-and-Paste Template With the Money Math

Copy-and-paste tattoo shop business plan template

Copy the template below into a document and replace each bracket with your own details. It is text to copy, not a file to download. Write the executive summary last, once the other sections have numbers in them.

1. Executive summary

• [Shop name] is a [number]-chair tattoo shop in [neighborhood, city], opening in [month, year].
• We will be known for [styles, for example fine line, traditional or black and grey] and [custom work, flash or both].
• To open we need $[total startup amount], funded by [savings, a loan, a partner or a mix].
• We expect to cover monthly costs by month [number], with [number] artists booked [hours] a week.

2. Concept and services

• Pricing basis: [hourly rate, half-day rate, day rate or price per piece] for each service.
• Consults: [free or paid], [length] minutes, booked in [day and time block].
• Walk-ins and flash: [days, hours and which artists cover them].
• Other services: [piercing, aftercare products or none].

3. Market and competition

• [Number] tattoo shops within [distance or drive time], with their main styles and listed rates where they publish them.
• The gap we fill: [a style, price point, opening hours or booking access the others do not offer].
• Our clients: [age range, where they find artists and typical piece size].

4. Artists and pay model

• Artists at opening: [names or roles], [years tattooing] and [styles].
• Pay model: [employees on wages], [a commission split with a shop share of (number)%] or [booth rent of $(amount) a week].
• Who supplies what under that model: [ink, needles, chair, booking and card payments].
• Guest artists: [terms and how many weeks a year].

5. Licensing and compliance

• Shop license from [agency]: fee $[amount], renewal due [date].
• Artist licenses from [agency]: $[amount] each for [number] artists.
• Training, sterilization, waste disposal and inspection steps that [agency] requires: [list].
• Insurance: [general and professional liability], quoted at $[amount] a year.
• Consent and aftercare paperwork: [who prepares it and where signed copies are kept].

6. Marketing

• Portfolio channels: [Instagram, website or others], posting [how often].
• Google Business Profile, booking link and a request for a review after every session.
• Launch plan: [opening event, flash day or guest spot] on [date].

7. Money

• Startup costs: buildout $[ ], equipment and sterilization $[ ], furniture $[ ], licenses and permits $[ ], insurance $[ ], first month's rent and lease deposit $[ ], opening reserve $[ ].
• Monthly fixed costs: rent $[ ], utilities $[ ], insurance $[ ], software $[ ], supplies $[ ].
• Shop income per artist a month: $[ ] (use the rent or split math in the next section).
• Deposits held for future sessions: $[ ] (see the deposits section).
• Break-even: monthly fixed costs $[ ] divided by shop income per artist $[ ] = [number] artists.

Commission split or booth rent: which pays the shop more?

In our hypothetical example, booth rent pays the shop more until an artist takes in about $2,708 a month under a 40% shop share, or $2,167 under 50%. Above those takings, the commission split pays more.

The arithmetic: $250 a week of booth rent is $1,083.33 a month ($250 times 52 weeks, divided by 12). A 40% shop share reaches $1,083.33 when the artist takes in $2,708.33 ($1,083.33 divided by 0.4), and a 50% share at $2,166.67.

Table 2. Shop income from one artist a month under each model. All inputs are hypothetical; use your own rent and split.

The crossover is only part of the choice. Booth rent is due in a slow month too, so the shop's income is steadier, but artists with thin books carry that risk and may struggle to pay. A split moves with each artist's bookings, so the shop shares the risk and the busy months. Write down who supplies ink, needles and card processing under each model, because that changes the real margin. Whether an artist is an employee or a contractor is a legal and tax question; settle it with an accountant before the model goes into the plan.

License fees to budget: three state examples

On October 10, 2026, first license fees were $330 per shop and $275 per artist in Washington, and $250 for a body art facility in Oregon. Florida listed $200 for the shop and a $60 artist application fee, before local fees.

Table 3. Fees as listed on each agency's page, read October 10, 2026. Florida's establishment fee is from its establishment license application.

Some states leave tattoo licensing to counties or cities, and many add inspection or business license fees, so put your own health department's figures in the licensing section of the template. Budget the renewal dates too, because each license must be renewed; check the renewal period on your agency's page.

Deposits in the cash-flow forecast

Treat tattoo deposits as cash held for sessions that have not happened yet: show it coming in when paid, but keep it apart from earned income until the session takes place.

A shop that books weeks ahead always holds clients' money for future work. In our hypothetical example, an artist who books seven sessions a week with a $100 deposit each holds $4,200 when booked six weeks out. That money is not spare cash: some of it goes back if the shop moves or cancels a session, under the policy you write.

Table 4. Deposits held by one artist at seven sessions a week and $100 a session. Hypothetical inputs.

In the plan, show deposits held as a separate line, state your refund and rescheduling terms, and ask an accountant how to record deposits a client forfeits. The same rule applies if you take the full session price up front. For sample policy wording and how studios choose an amount, see our guide to tattoo deposits.

Consults and sessions: planning chair hours

Every 30-minute consult uses half an hour that could be paid session time, so a plan should cap consults per artist each week and book them into one fixed block.

Table 5. One artist's 32-hour chair week with 30-minute consults. Hypothetical inputs.

Each consult in this example costs $75 of session time. Placement matters as much as the count. A single consult at 1 p.m. in a 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. day leaves three hours before it and four and a half after, so a six-hour piece no longer fits that day. Holding consults online, outside chair hours, also keeps long-session days whole. Some shops charge for consults or credit the fee to the tattoo; state your choice in the concept section of the template. For how a client's request becomes a confirmed session, see our guide to setting up a tattoo booking system.

Startup and monthly cost lines to price

Price each cost line from a quote, a lease offer or a published fee rather than from a sample plan, because the sample plans we read use invented shops.

Table 6. Cost lines to price for section 7 of the template.

With fixed costs known, break-even is a division. In a hypothetical shop with $5,000 a month of fixed costs, $250 a week of booth rent ($1,083 a month) needs 4.6 artists, so five chairs. At a 50% split on $6,000 of takings each ($3,000 to the shop), it needs 1.67, so two busy artists. Under a split, subtract the supplies the shop provides before dividing.

Where Twizzlo fits

Twizzlo is web-based online booking and appointment scheduling software for appointment-based service businesses, and in a tattoo shop plan it fills the booking and payments line.

Each artist gets a calendar, consults and sessions are separate services with their own length and price, and buffer times leave room to clean down between clients. Clients book from one link, and a guest artist can get a profile and a shift for the dates they work. Prepaid bookings take the full session price through Stripe. Twizzlo's features page does not list partial deposits or consent forms, so a shop that wants either inside its booking tool should compare the options in our tattoo shop management software guide.

Free is $0 a month for up to 150 bookings a month, free forever and not a trial, with no SMS. Business Pro is $29.99 a month per business for unlimited bookings, with 50 SMS a month included, then $0.03 each, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. Both plans include unlimited staff and locations. Online payments carry your Stripe processing rate plus a 1.5% Twizzlo platform fee. Details are on the Twizzlo pricing page.

Using the chair-hour example, an artist with eight consults and seven four-hour sessions a week makes 15 bookings, about 65 a month (15 times 52, divided by 12). Two artists, about 130 a month, fit within Free's 150 bookings with email reminders. Three artists, about 195, need Business Pro: one text reminder per booking uses the 50 included and 145 more at $0.03, or $4.35, for $34.34 a month. If clients prepay 20 four-hour sessions online at $600, the $12,000 carries $180 in platform fees before Stripe's rate.

To test it with your own services before opening day, you can start on the Free plan and move to Business Pro when you pass 150 bookings a month or want text reminders.

Frequently asked questions