Underpants Empire

Ragen St. Peter begins his day at his computer at 6:30 a.m. in his boxer shorts at his home office in Cape Coral, planning the next stop on a tattoo festival tour he created.

He won't end his day until 11 p.m.

His wife teasingly refers to it as the “Underpants Empire.”

From its humble beginnings inside St. Peter's house nearly three years ago, Ink Life Tour has become a huge touring festival that will visit seven cities this year and 10 cities next year. Each event grosses $100,000 or more, drawing thousands of people to convention centers and event halls bigger than a football field.

These three-day events center on tattoo artists, of course, but they also feature music, crafts and even pole-dancing competitions. Headliners include Amy Nicoletto, a star from the popular reality television show LA Ink, which follows artists at a tattoo studio in Los Angeles. Sponsors include beer giants Coors and Miller.

But as mainstream as tattoos have become, St. Peter and business partner George Galindo took some big risks to start the company. They never sought outside investors even though they decided to put on the biggest shows possible. “My wife thought I was crazy,” says St. Peter.

But St. Peter, 37, had lots of experience creating trade shows and events for other companies, particularly the automotive industry. “I made other people so much money,” St. Peter says. “I got so tired of working for other people.”

So when he met Galindo, who owns two tattoo shops in El Paso, Texas, the two started planning their first Ink Life Tour festival in that city in July 2010. “Let's do something small and see where it goes,” St. Peter recalls their initial conversation. “No, let's do it big right off the bat,” they later decided. “We've never done anything small.”

So they built a website (InkLifeTour.com) and signed up 100 artists who paid $500 each to be in the El Paso festival. “We didn't have a lot of money starting out,” says St. Peter. “You had to sell the idea.”

The appeal was that it was going to be a big event, with entertainment such as rock bands and pole-dancing competitions. “Entertainment is critical,” St. Peter says. Until then, tattoo events were small affairs that usually took place in small venues such as hotel ballrooms without any other draw.

Because St. Peter and Galindo didn't have much money to start, each time they sold a booth to an artist or signed up a sponsor they immediately spent that money on advertising and promotion on television, billboards and radio. “We were floating everything,” says St. Peter. “As it came in, it went out.”

If the initial show had been a bust, St. Peter acknowledges that he and Galindo could have been out of thousands of dollars in expenses. “It's scary, man,” St. Peter says. But, he adds, “We've never taken a dime of investor money. I didn't want to lose control.”

Nearly 11,000 people showed up at the first Ink Life Tour in El Paso. “The first one was amazing,” St. Peter says. “OK, we're doing five next year,” they decided.

With one successful festival, word quickly spread through the tattoo world and sponsors started calling. This year, there are seven festivals in cities such as Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Madison, Wis., and Amarillo, Texas. Recently, the festival made a stop at the Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers. Shows fill up with 150 artists and sponsors who pay from $500 to $900, depending on the size of a booth, and tickets cost $20 for a day or $35 for the three-day event.

St. Peter says he's targeting smaller cities because there's less competition for events and advertising costs less. Also, a city has to be easily accessible and affordable for the artists. “People really like what we're doing,” he says. “It's so different.”

With each festival, St. Peter says he and Galindo have reinvested in the business. Ink Life now has a crew of three people who set up $100,000 worth of equipment for each festival.

St. Peter's cell phone doesn't stop ringing from the time he starts work at 6:30 a.m. in his underwear. “That's what it takes,” he says. “Nothing can be accomplished by sitting on the couch.”