Notes from Chris

Episode 2089

While on maternity leave, Danielle Oliverio was driven to find some sort of business she could do at home. She didn’t want to return to her job as a school teacher in Calgary, Alberta. Instead, she wanted to do something that worked around her young family. She spent every free minute brainstorming and researching potential businesses. Her mind was whirling with ideas even when she was up with her new baby in the middle of the night. Danielle had always been entrepreneurial—babysitting as a teenager and teaching piano lessons during university. One night while she up nursing her baby, Danielle came across a lawn sign greeting business for sale in a different city. This inspired her to find out what was available in Calgary. There was only one major lawn sign business in town, but Danielle wasn’t impressed with the quality of their signs. She knew she could do better. After doing a bit more research, she found a company that offered bright and modern lawn greeting signs for birthdays and other special occasions. Danielle ordered $1,200 worth of inventory to get started. While it was being produced and shipped, she built her website using Wix, designed a logo, and came up with a game plan. Calgary Event Cards was in business! Danielle got her first customers in August 2020 by doing a few client jobs for free. The business took off from there. This was during the height of the pandemic and people were looking for a socially distant way to celebrate … such as drive by parades. Between organic reach and a few Google ads, Calgary Event Cards made it to the first page of search results almost immediately. Part of this success comes from the fact that her clients are already  looking online with a specific service in mind. They aren’t randomly searching online and stumbling upon her business; they’re searching for her type of lawn sign service specifically. And it works! Danielle quickly had to invest in more inventory to keep up with the demand. Overall, she has spent about $7,000 on materials. Calgary Event Cards has now done over 2,000 lawn greetings and grossed almost $200,000 in sales. Her weekly profit fluctuates between $600 and $6,000 depending on the season. Graduation celebrations during the height of the pandemic really put her on the map. She’s now earning more than she did as a school teacher and has hired her best friends to go out in the evenings to set up lawn signs while she works behind the scenes prepping her inventory and taking orders. This has worked out well for Danielle since she has had another child and can’t be out of the house every evening. While the business is doing well, there have been some weather-related challenges. Calgary has severe winters, and the ground is frozen 5 months of the year, making it difficult to insert the metal sign stakes. After a lot of trial and error, Danielle discovered that drills really help to make holes for the signs. As if she isn’t busy enough, Danielle also has a baby equipment rental business. She bought this business four years ago for $4,500 which included all the baby gear, from car seats to cribs to strollers. It also came with a website, which she updated and modernized. For the rental hustle, Danielle has done over $50,000 in sales, with most of it being profit since she bought it as a complete package. It’s not exactly passive income, but she doesn’t have to advertise much because there’s very little competition in Calgary. She also joined a platform called BabyQuip (we’ve featured them before) and gets a few rental clients from it. She easily earned back the $100 sign up fee. Danielle plans on running these two businesses for a long time, but the fire to start yet another business is always there…something that she can do online from home.  

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Calgary Event Cards from Danielle's website, CalgaryEventCards.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Mom-Founded Startup Rents Infant Gear to Tourists: Busy mom in Chicago uses a peer-to-peer sharing platform to earn extra money for her family and help visiting parents get all the baby gear they need for their trip.
• Clothing Store Salesman Invents Baby Harness, Earns $100k Per Year: An innovative salesman creates a baby harness that benefits both parent and child, all the while creating a six-figure side income for himself.
• Paralegal Starts Side Hustle During Maternity Leave: After starting her hustle with a friend, this new mom buys out her co-owner and begins earning $10,000/month selling baby items.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work! Yours in the revolution,

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