Jodi Wendt

I started this tattoo studio in a small town of Harlan Iowa, as my first tattoo-oriented business. I am proud to be a female-owned business, and to have handled all aspects of my business including marketing, managing, finances and tattooing. In the last year, I have added my daughter as a secondary tattooist, taking on smaller work, while I focus on larger pieces. I have a large clientele, 80% of whom are women, and they come from all of the surrounding towns, some driving over an hour to come to me. I provide an environment that is comfortable and healing, and I treat the tattooing process as a ritual, or right of passage. It nurtures trust and ultimately, that's the relationship I like to have with my clients.

I started this company as a way to work from home, and be closer to my family. I had been working for an Insurance Agency, ZC Sterling, owned by Zurich, for several years, and as the assistant to the Vice President of the company, I had an opportunity to do my work from home, as a sole proprietor. I was chiefly responsible for proposals, PR, and marketing materials, such as postcards and brochures.

I also had a few side jobs, creating websites, logos and labels for small companies (An outfitters, a mini truck company, construction company, and a winery).

During this time, I also created a small instruction booklet with 10 hand-drawn instructional images for a medical device and I volunteered to assist the local community development agency, to create materials and to update their website.

I was a licensed insurance agent in several states, in property-casualty. We worked with many new home construction agencies as well as existing homes. I began as an agent, then later, I moved on to co-manage a team of customer service agents, taking mortgage changes and making alterations to policies. I managed approximately 20 agents. I helped develop a new scanning protocol for the office to streamline the filing process and create less waste.

I took a licensed CNA course as an intro to the nursing program, which I had thought I'd enter. I ended up going a different way, but after I became licensed, I did work as a CNA in various nursing homes in the area. I was employed by an agency which placed me as needed for low staffing. I was responsible for residents in a variety of ways, and it was a physically and mentally demanding job.