Daily Inspiration: Meet Morgan Alynn

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Alynn.

Hi Morgan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I have been tattooing and creating professionally since I was seventeen, and I have seen the tattoo industry change a lot in the time I have been here, for the better and for the worse. However, through it all, tattooing has remained a stable and wonderful career. I opened my first tattoo shop in Downtown Longmont, a smaller upstairs unit, a few years ago. 

Originally, I had intended to just run a private studio and be the sole employee. Quickly, however, I found that working alone was making me feel disconnected from my community, so I opened up my shop to a few apprentices and employees. This process was new for me; I had never trained anyone in tattoos nor held any staff of my own. I also, at that time, added a small gift shop/boutique to the space. 

This got a decent amount of traction, and we quickly found that we needed more space. At about the same time, the unit directly below us opened up, and we expanded to have two spaces. At first, I loved the bigger shop. We had higher amounts of inventory, were able to host markets and classes, and did so many new things. 

However, somewhere along the line of chasing all of that, I was giving less in my duties at the tattoo shop and quickly felt pulled in many directions – dual business owner, gift shop manager, tattoo shop manager, teacher, mentor, and tattooer. It quickly became clear that I could not handle all of these duties while still remaining true to my art. And so, with a heavy heart and with a decent amount of pressure from my landlords raising rent due to the increasing property taxes in Longmont, I turned in the keys to my dual businesses at the end of 2022 to pursue a life that felt more right to me. 

Now, a couple of years later, I am very happily co-owning a smaller tattoo shop in Lafayette called the Swamp with my best friend and business partner of several years. I am also enjoying my garden and a number of new hobbies, and I have recently begun to take music production classes. I felt a big hole in my life after stepping down from my role at work, and yet I tried really hard not to immediately fill that hole with another distraction. And now, after allowing that space to exist in my life, grieving the life I loved but that was not meant for me, and welcoming new opportunities, I can say I am the happiest I have been in many, many years. 

I think when we chase success, especially the kind that comes with people applauding and cheering us on, it can be so hard to know when “enough is enough.” I felt like I was chasing me. I am constantly behind, and I never have quite enough of myself to give to my work and my home life. I am excited to explore new creative ventures and have really begun to deeply enjoy tattooing again and the art that comes with it. I am so grateful that I had the experience of touching my dreams – even if only to realize I did not understand the strings that came along with those dreams. 

I want to express, more than anything, that it’s okay to realize something isn’t for you, or that you misjudged the way something might go, or feel overwhelmed. Owning any type of business is hard, but I could have never imagined the strain that retail ownership could put on my life. The next time you go into a lovely little shop that you enjoy, know that the owner has poured everything into it for your enjoyment. I have nothing but extreme respect for all the lovely business owners Downtown. It’s a full-time job, then some, and a labor of extreme love. 

To everyone who has ever had to step down or step back, I want to say – it’s okay to pivot. I feel that isn’t spoken about enough. I feel that experiences are the only way we ever really know what things feel right and what things don’t. Sometimes, we have to jump into the deep end to find out we were maybe happier wading in the shallows. 

In the end, we have to let our hearts decide the things that our minds sometimes cannot. And while it hurts to have to pivot, and to give up a big dream, I am happy that I am now living a life that finally makes my heart feel full. 

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think that a well-lived life is ever a smooth road. That said, I think it’s important to differentiate the bumpiness of hard work and striving towards a goal versus the bumpiness of misalignment. Those two things can sometimes feel almost inseparable. I believe fully in hard work and sacrifice in the name of making dreams a reality. 

I think the hard part is knowing when to work hard and when to take a step down and rest. So much of my life has been centered around “the grind,” and I believe that is the case for most people. The modern world moves very fast, at a constantly increasing pace. It can be overwhelming, exciting, and grueling, all at different times. I believe that the world once ran at a pace that more matched the weather – lots of hard work in the spring and fall and more of a rest period during summer and winter. 

Recently, I have tried to align my life with this flow and have found that I am getting more done and pacing myself better. I give my all in the spring and fall, and then I allow work and commitments to slow down a bit during summer and winter. And by doing this, I have been more productive than ever. 

I understand that many folks do not have the schedule control or abilities that I do, but I think even choosing how we spend our free time and social time and doing things a bit differently to match the season creates a harmony as humans that the modern world has taken from us. 

We were never meant to work at an ever-escalating pace without rest. We were never meant to show up and grind every day. And I hope to do my part to change that rhetoric and inspire others to value their own rest and recovery. I found that even in my social and entertainment life, I was seeking high-octane, constant stimulation. And feeling forever burnt out. Now, I try and balance those inputs from the world, and listen to my brain when it says “please, no more today”. 

It is a struggle, but I believe everyone can have a bit more calm and relaxed time in their day-to-day life than most of us currently do. I believe that the way through capitalism’s crushing demands is to take small moments throughout our week to remind ourselves of the calm simplicity of the little things and the small wins. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a tattoo artist primarily, although I do quite a bit of watercolor painting, and occasionally dabble with oil. I have always been someone who is restless creatively – always trying new things and getting excited. 

During my time owning a large retail business, I made almost all of the inventory by hand, and during my time in Downtown, I learned screen printing, candle making, herbalism, and a number of other crafts. Currently, my heart has taken a turn towards music, and I am currently enrolled in several music production classes. 

I am hoping to eventually marry my love for art and music and create songs that I could perform or create videos for, making use of painting and costuming to create something in between art and music. 

What’s next?
One of my largest future goals is to have children in the next few years, and I am currently trying to align my life with a life that could support that. So, that means finding a good balance between work and rest so that I can parent with a calm heart instead of bringing my overwhelm and stress home to my children. 

I dream of giving them the childhood I had – full of nature and unstructured playtime. I believe that my parents giving me a lot of freedom to find myself and my limits in nature really helped me as I moved into my creative life, and I’m hoping to afford my children that same freedom. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @redmagictattoo