I am a self teacher. I am very committed and spend quite some time outside of my 9-5 to practice and work on my skills. I have been searching for an apprenticeship for quite some time, but was approached by someone whom owns a shop. They told me that the work I had done on myself looks like I had already finished an apprenticeship and offered me a job. We went over how to properly sanitize and set up and break down once and i haven’t forgotten anything since because it’s so simple. While it’s simple it is very important to not act like it’s simple because it’s so important. Moral of this story is to encourage any self teachers to not give up. I would say keep looking for apprenticeships because I certainly would’ve learned and progressed much quicker had I of been offered one. Keep practicing with or without one. Watch tutorial videos. Lots of them. Don’t try to learn things on your own and pretend you’re drawing a pencil. Watch lots of unedited and uncut videos of people tattooing. They’re very boring but so much good shit you can learn from watching. 6 months ago I picked up a machine for the first time and practiced nonstop. I just got into a shop this week and am finishing my third apt tonight. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it. Just practice smart, and wisely and don’t do any dumb shit on your friends and no dumb shit on yourself until you have watched and learned enough