Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Silverman.
Hi Jared, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Crystal Point Body Piercing was established in 2017 after I had already spent 10 years as a professional body piercer. We are hosted by Bleeding Heart Tattoo; they do tattoos but not piercing, and we do piercing but not tattoos, so it’s a great fit in our building!
I personally started my piercing career in 2007 after stopping by a tattoo shop (repeatedly, whether getting work done or not) and finding a love for the choice of self expression! After a few years in Columbia, MO, I followed with a few years in my home town of Saint Louis, then a few more years becoming an Association of Professional Piercers member and honing my professional experience as a resident in Knoxville, TN.
Once I was done in Knoxville, I chose to take my handcrafted jewelry and piercing skills on the road for a series of guest spots; I would drive for hours to get to a new city, pierce in a studio as coverage for staff that was on vacation or medical leave, then move onto the next spot. I reckon I’d pierced in roughly half of the continental USA during that time period!
Ultimately I landed at Bleeding Heart covering for the piercer they had at the time; I ultimately ended up quitting the position I held for that piercer after about 6 months and started to plan for Crystal Point that fall for a spring opening. Bleeding Heart was moving out of their previous building in the upcoming spring and the owner asked me to come along; I knew that I did not want to work for another professional, at this point I wanted to run my own spot, and that’s where the agreement between Bleeding Heart and Crystal Point came from!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I can’t lie: NO, it hasn’t been smooth. It’s been a challenge; remember, nothing in life that is worth anything comes easily.
The biggest struggle for any new business owner has got to be tax / legal services, or maybe learning all of the skills that are required to run a business but not necessarily taught about with the training that this kind of job requires. It’s a learning process!
The truth is; It hasn’t been smooth, but has been worth it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We specialize in body piercing – none of our staff members does any kind of other body service, we are focused specifically on body piercing and the coolest jewelry available!
Most piercing shops / tattoo shops cut corners as often as possible to chase the “cheapest price”. We do not cut those corners because of the poor results seen, for example:
– Cheap supplies – needles can be very cheap, as low as 20 cents. An “expensive needle” might cost 500% the cost of a cheap one, but cheap needles tear the skin instead of making a clean incision, leading to increased potential of problems with healing. Cheap needles are the most common cause of excessive bleeding during the piercing procedure; I would say I have any kind of bleeding on maybe 10% of my piercing clients, so the extra dollar spent is worth it to me!
Jewelry – we do not carry jewelry that was not made in America for new piercings, full stop. The APP requires high quality jewelry that meets the standards for implantable medical devices; none of our jewelry has any lead in it, and the vast majority is nickel free (Titanium / Gold options). All of our gold options are solid, not plated. Our staff has seen the piercing industry as it has developed over the past few decades so we can avoid the mistakes that younger, less experienced piercers make.
Sterilization – we are sterilizing everything that we use to pierce you before using it. You would think that would be standard, but the truth is that the majority of piercers are using “pre-sterilized” instruments, needles, and jewelry, with the assumption that they were sterilized correctly We use sterile gloves for piercing procedures (not required by Missouri, by the way) so of course we are going to do our absolute best to verify a safe piercing procedure. This includes verification in every cycle, as well as weekly spore test verification by a third party.
Basically, we meet the standards required to be a member of the APP – I personally have been a member for nearly 15 years, and many of the places I have lived had weak standards for body art law by comparison!
How do you define success?
Meeting the goals you have set. If you meet those goals, set new goals!
The truth is that the average piercer does not stay in this field; most of the people who become licensed piercers kind of pack it in within 5-10 years in search for more stable work or because of poor work conditions.
To me, I feel successful. This year I turn 40 years old, then 4 months later Crystal Point Body Piercing turns 10 years old, and a few weeks later my piercing career turns 20. I would say that anyone, no matter what pursuit, could consider themselves successful after spending half their life supporting themself doing it, wouldn’t you?
Pricing:
- Piercing fee is $30 (jewelry in addition)
- Jewelry – ranging from $25 to hundreds, even thousands of dollars!
- Troubleshooting is free, we are happy to answer questions
- When you buy jewelry for an existing piercing, we insert that for free to ensure proper fitment!
Contact Info:
