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How This Entrepreneur Turned a Lowbrow Product Into a Luxurious One After setting aside his music career, Sean Dowdell wanted to start his own tattoo parlor, but he needed to find a way to make a traditionally lowbrow product appeal to a high-end, but still edgy, audience.

By Joe Keohane

Club Tattoo

This is an episode of our podcast Problem Solvers. Each week, an entrepreneur reveals how they overcame an unexpected problem in their business -- and were happier and more successful as a result. The show is hosted by Entrepreneur's editor in chief, Jason Feifer. Listen below, or subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sean Dowdell loved tattoos, but he hated tattoo parlors. They were dirty, uninviting, downmarket, unprofessional and often sexist. So when he set aside his music career to start his own tattoo parlor, he needed to find a way to make a traditionally lowbrow product appeal to a high-end, but still edgy, audience. A decade later, he's now opening glitzy tattoo shops all over the world.

Tune into the latest episode of Problem Solvers to hear how he pulled it off.

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Joe Keohane

Entrepreneur Staff

Author of the book "The Power of Strangers"

Joe Keohane is the author of the book The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World. He is a journalist based in New York, and was formerly the executive editor of Entrepreneur magazine.

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