Couple Turn Unwanted Furniture Into $1,000 Per Month

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

Hey there, hello and welcome back. It's Chris Guillebeau, your host for Side Hustle School. What a week it's been. All kinds of amazing stories. I've actually been home for a couple days, heading out next week to Canada, one of my favorite countries.

I'll tell you about that tomorrow, including where I'll be and what I'm up to. Now appropriately, today's story is about two Canadian DIYers who start out as hobbyists and turn into hustlers. Full disclosure, we're talking about furniture renovation here. This is definitely not a skill I have. In fact, I have absolutely zero skill in this department, or in assembling IKEA furniture as we've talked about before.

Basically anything DIY is not me. I need whatever the opposite of that is, not do it yourself, do it someone else. But of course, some people do have this skill, perhaps you do as well. And today you'll hear about how two people actually make money with it. That story is coming right up.

Have you ever heard the old saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure"? Well, for furniture upcyclers Lindsay and Jamie LaRue, it's helped to form the basis of their side hustle. The couple have been finding unwanted pieces of wooden furniture in their local Ottawa area and breathing new life into them for close to a decade. At first it was just a hobby, partly to help affordably decorate their home with unique pieces of furniture, but with so many years of practice under their belts they began to get pretty good at it. So when it came time for Jamie to reduce his hours at the bank where he worked, and carve out more time at home with his preschool aged children, they thought it might be the perfect side hustle option.

Jamie could work from home during the day while Lindsay was at her day job, and Lindsay could work from home in the evenings when Jamie went to the bank. This allowed them to increase their household income, save on child care costs, and pick and choose how much work they took on each month. It was also a cheap side hustle to start. Most of the unwanted furniture they work with can be found for free using classified ads, websites, and garage sales. Meaning the only real investment the pair would have to make would be around $40 on paint and parts, all of which of course can be factored into the final price of whatever they sell.

Before they began Casa Azul, Ottawa, the business they named after their bright blue family home, they wanted to test their idea to see if it was profitable. They began creating smaller pieces for friends and charged just the cost of the materials. This way they could see if there was a market, get a better understanding of the business logistics, and start generating some word of mouth interest. These efforts eventually paid off and after their first few pieces were completed, they began to receive outside orders from people who'd seen their work in their friends' homes. Lindsay and Jamie's business model is split into two halves.

On one side they take custom orders exclusively through word of mouth for a specific piece for someone's home. On the other side they upcycle furniture they find and sell it as a finished product to customers. Keeping it like this ensures the couple can pick and choose how much work they do each month, creating more if they have more time and less if they don't. They work a combined 25 to 30 hours a month on the project and earn up to $1,000 a month. They mostly promote their finished products through specialized marketplaces like Kijiji.

Do you know much about Kijiji? I'm not sure that I did, so I'm going to link it up for you on the show notes, you can check it out. Everything is bootstrapped and they don't spend any money on advertising. The logistics of working out of a family home can be challenging. The LaRue's dining room has become a workshop for smaller pieces, allowing them to work while their young children play close by.

For larger pieces, Jamie sneaks down to the basement during nap time and play time and then Lindsay heads down when the kids are in bed. It can be hard to keep the balance right and the noise down, but they say they would do this work even if they weren't getting paid for it, so they see it as more of a labor of love than a struggle and of course one that just so happens to pay them. Now if you have these skills that I sorely lack and you're looking to start a similar hustle, Jamie has two words of advice. First, you should never sell a piece at a loss, even though it might be tempting to take lower prices when you're first starting out. You should always remember the time, effort, and money you put into the piece and sell it for what it's worth.

Second, you should set up a pricing system for buying pieces should you not be able to find them for free. For example, Lindsay will never pay more than $60 for a dresser, even though she knows she could sell it for $300 to $400 when it's complete. This helps them regulate their costs and invest in the pieces they feel are most worth their time. Now that they've gone from hobby to hustle, Jamie has been investing some time and improving his woodworking skills. They hope to create and sell even more profitable pieces, they're also working with a lot of repeat clients and referrals.

It's not a full-time job, but it's a happy money-making endeavor, and the future of Casa Azul-Ottawa seems as bright as the blue paint on their home. Well, congrats to Lindsay and Jamie. Since I can't fix anything myself, I'm not sure what to add to this story, but good job, guys. I always love when people say they found something that they would happily do for free, and they do still get enjoyment out of it, but now they're also getting paid for it. Not everything in life has to work out that way, but if you're making something that has value just like they're doing, and their friends and other people see it and recognize the value, well, like you see in this story, they're happy to invest in it.

And I also do love the concept of upcycling, how they're taking furniture that is unwanted and unused, not just supporting systems like IKEA, which are turning out more and more and more of the same thing over and over, but putting some love into these items and really giving them a new life and a new home. If you're a DIYer or even if you're not, I hope you like this story. As always, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/287. We're approaching the end of the week.

If you're listening in real time, tomorrow is the weekly recap. I'm excited to bring that to you and then head back out on the road. Thank you for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.