The High Cost of Trusting the Wrong People
Life will always throw you curveballs.
Sometimes, they come in the form of bullets. I feel like I dodged a major one recently—something that could have completely derailed me and taken my legacy with it, ending my career.
When you’re an entrepreneur, there is no stability. There will be good times; times when your company is thriving, making deals for your team and your family that you’ve only ever dreamed of, living a life you never could have imagined.
If you’re new to the game, those times will feel like they’re going to last forever. You’ll get too comfortable.
When the bad times hit, it’ll feel like they’re coming out of nowhere. If you’re inexperienced, if you don't prepare yourself for what’s to come, it can feel like the world turned against you. Like you’re losing everything.
That’s when panic sets in. Nothing ever good comes from that—you lose your perspective. You lose your edge. Without clarity, without strength and endurance, that sense of urgency can overwhelm you. It’s not sustainable.
Every successful person I know, if you ask them, “Has your business always been on the up and up?” They all have the same answer:
No. That’s not business. That’s not real life. For every highpoint, for every victory, there’s going to be just as hard of a fall. Just as many losses.
It’s all about how you navigate them.
A Dangerous Deal
Recently, Skin Design received an offer that could have changed everything.
They promised us the world. They painted a picture for me that was so colorful it was blinding.
But more than that, it was a promise of a better future for my SDT family. They promised to help us grow x100 more. An even greater empire for my daughters to inherit. More shops, all across the globe. More opportunities to spread the Skin Design values: loyalty and respect. It was music to my ears.
Because, that’s what it’s all about, really.
Innovating the industry. We’ve come so far already—tattoos are so mainstream, our art went from stigmatized to so appreciated by society. We’re bringing back huge body art pieces, even in an economy that’s hit by a recession.
We’ve redefined the game through financing opportunities, anesthesia tattoos, and a culture that sets us apart.
And this is just the start. The older I get, the more my ambition for this industry grows.
I’m so excited to continue to mentor the next generation of artists, give a platform to more emerging talents, and start my tattoo academy. I can’t wait to share my story with the world, to inspire hope in people who’ve gone through struggles like my own, and immortalize my legacy through ink.
This proposition, I thought, would get me there faster. I thought it would secure an even more profitable future for the entire team.
But, not all that glitters is gold. It’s hard to see the red flags that are in front of you when your vision is blurred by manipulation. Everything was right in front of me, I just had to open my eyes.
A Test of Character
Sometimes, your best qualities can also be your weakness.
I see the best in people. I take people at their word, until they prove me otherwise. No matter how many times the people in my life betray my trust, I refuse to let that leave me jaded. It’s just not who I am. It’s not in my nature.
I’m here on this earth to uplift the people around me. I’ve been saved too many times, given too many opportunities, to keep my blessings to myself.
But that also means, when people make promises laced in lies, I don’t always see them for what they are at first. Especially when those promises are for a greater future for the Skin Design team; it’s my responsibility to do everything in my power to uplift them and take them with me all the way to the top.
When you’re sitting in a room filled with charismatic businessmen and women, all swearing that they want to help you and the whole SDT family grow, with pieces of paper spelling it all out for you—you just assume their dream aligns with yours.
But not everyone will have your best intentions at heart.
The higher you go—whatever industry you’re in—the more people will see you as a threat. I’m just so fortunate that I’ve been seasoned enough to finally realize what was in front of me.
I’m so blessed that, even if I have enemies around every corner, I also have people in my life who look out for me and my family.
A Lesson in Loyalty
It’s not another ‘coincidence’ that during the time when we need help growing, these guys show up out of nowhere with this offer. It’s the devil working to get me at a time like this, when I’m getting blindsided, forgetting to question if something is too good to be true.
I feel it was a miracle that God sent me messages trying to warn me, even when I initially tried to ignore them. He sent me my own financial advisor to warn me, and still, I was hesitant to listen to him.
But when I received yet another sign, I knew I had to listen. It was Godsent—I had to trust Him. It made me realize that the universe was trying to guide me in the right direction.
We have a lot of mutual respect for each other. They said they could never tell me what to do, but just wanted to be honest with me about what I should expect. They had their own experience with this group of people that I didn’t even know, their own rocky history.
It made me realize that the universe was trying to guide me in the right direction.
The devil will always be trying to get you, trying to take ownership of you. He’s everywhere, always working overtime. Sometimes it feels like he’s behind every corner.
You have to remember that God is always looking out for you. You just have to be open to what He’s trying to show you—something that can be hard for me, too.
These investors can be so convincing; they know how to pique your interest. They will say all the right things, even lay it all out on paper, in a binding contract, just the way you want it to go.
But the thing is, investors like that have the best lawyers. They’ll write the contract up however you want it, just to get you to bite.
But they shouldn’t be trusted, and definitely not without caution.
They’re so powerful, have so much money and influence backing them, that they can renege on the contract once they have you where they want you. Once they learn about your company and your intellectual property. They have more money to spend on legal fees than you could ever afford—no matter the size of your company.
They get a stronghold on you.
Once they had my name on that dotted line, they would have owned me, owned Skin Design. We would have been taken over by a company that has no family values. No human values. Driven only by profit.
If they see you as a threat, they know it’s better to just take you out of the game entirely. Next year is the year of the snake; within six months, they would have trapped me into a non-compete and then put me on the shelf. Trapped.
Like politicians, they’ll drain you after making false promises.
If you’re in a tough spot, if you’re hungry for more—for you and the people around you—it’s easy to be persuaded by the right words. But you have to look at the whole picture, from every angle. Even the ones that aren’t so pretty.
You have to remember that, in life, there are no shortcuts. There are no easy outs. You have to stay and fight for what matters the most to you.
The signs in my life showed me the truth: I don’t want their money. It comes at too high of a price.
Money can create a better life. For you, for your family, and for the people that come after you.
But it’s also the root of all evil.
It doesn’t turn people against you; it just shows you who they really were all along.
I don’t want people taking over my company, people who don’t have the passion or the heart that I do. There’s no amount of money in the world that would make that kind of sacrifice okay.
Money without integrity means nothing to me.
It’s so important to keep yourself grounded, to surround yourself with people who have your interests at heart. And you have to look out for yourself, too. You have to remember that it’s dangerous to be vulnerable around the wrong people, to let them into your business, into your life.
I have so many people that count on me. The SDT team I have now has given me so much; they’re the reason we are who we are as a company. They make me so proud.
Who would I be if I wasn’t every bit as loyal to them? If I fell for this trick, it would have felt like more than just a personal betrayal—it would have impacted everyone I care about.
The devil will try to get to you—he’ll come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. But I have guardian angels looking out for me, for my family. I have more wisdom as I get older.
I’ve seen that there will always be distractions on your road to success. I think differently. I know you have to look both ways before you cross.
And I know that God puts people in your life for a reason.
He’ll use the devil to tempt you. But, a lot of times, the devil will look like a friend. You have to stay strong. It's a reminder of what really matters, what your purpose is in life, and how hard you have to work to achieve it.
He’ll put people in life to support you, to help open your eyes, and protect you.
And He’ll put people in your life to depend on you. They keep me strong. Keep me focused.
Everyone in your life serves a purpose, sends you a message about something greater. You just have to let yourself receive it. You have to stay open. You have to adapt.
And you have to be willing to make those hard choices, too. To do what’s best for the people you love, even if that means saying no to opportunities that may risk not aligning with your values.
In my life, I have to be willing to do things that aren’t always comfortable. Because it’s not just about me.
I’m a father, a husband, an entrepreneur, a leader, and a friend. Every choice I make is driven by the love I have for people around me.
And there is no amount of money in the world that could change that.
