This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Lawn sign business expands to wedding decor rentals. Welcome friends, and welcome to Side Hustle School. Welcome as well to Throwback Thursday. My name is Chris Guillebeau, your host, episode 3050-3050 in this episode. Well, in this segment, we take an in-depth look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them.
Throwback Thursday, last week we heard from a college student who scaled from fixing cracked screens like cracked iPhones. We've all done that. We've dropped our phone. This guy gets paid to fix them. But he evolved from that business to creating a buyback platform that turns over $20,000 in inventory each month, even better than just fixing individual phone screens.
Today in our latest feature, we've got a similar evolution or at least an evolution of some kind. We're going to hear from a third grade teacher who grew her creative lawn sign business into a go-to source for wedding decor. Her name is Nicole. What's happened since we first featured her long ago. Let's hear directly from Nicole.
I'm going to pass the mic to her. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap-up. >> I'm Nicole, a third grade teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, and my side hustle started as a fun way to bring smiles to my neighbors during the pandemic. It began with colorful oversized yard signs for birthdays, graduations, and other milestones. At first, I'd spend my weekends delivering signs, setting them up in front lawns and picking them up the next day.
Business was steady, but everything changed after a customer asked if I could create a custom sign for her backyard wedding. The wedding request was my light bulb moment. Instead of bright celebratory designs, the couple wanted something elegant, a hand-painted wooden sign that matched their wedding's rustic theme. I added floral garlands and fairy lights to the setup and created a photo backdrop with a matching aesthetic. Seeing how much it elevated their small backyard wedding gave me an idea.
Why not expand into wedding rentals? I used part of my early profits to invest in new materials, wooden frames, faux greenery, drapery, and customizable neon signs. At the same time, I tested different package options from simple welcome signs to full photo backdrop setups. With referrals from that first wedding, I put two more events within a month. I realized I had stumbled onto something bigger than just lawn signs.
One thing I love about this business is how personal it feels. Every wedding client brings a different vision and I get to collaborate with them to make it a reality. For a couple hosting an outdoor ceremony at a local vineyard, I designed a modern minimalist sign with a black and white palette and clean topography. Another bride wanted a whimsical garden theme, so I incorporated wisteria and twinkling string lights into her backdrop. While my teaching job is still my primary focus, wedding rentals have become a thriving part of my weekends.
What started as a way to repurpose my lawn sign supplies has grown into a service that transforms ordinary backyards and venues into stunning wedding spaces. I've expanded to include baby showers, engagement parties, and even corporate events. Recently, I added a line of luxury lawn setups featuring freestanding floral arches and LED-lit signs, which are popular for photo ops. My next goal is to refine my process further, making setup and take down more efficient so I can take on more events each month. This journey has shown me how small pivots, like adding wedding decor rentals, can turn a casual side hustle into a business that genuinely impacts people's most memorable moments.
Hey, big thanks to Nicole for sharing those updates with us. I love it when people go from one idea to growing that idea or seeing what is the next phase of it. How can I go from doing this thing which is working just fine, but maybe it leads me to something that works a bit better, and that's often how you can end up scaling a side hustle or business if that is in fact your goal. It's also okay just to do stuff for fun and for extra money as well. You got to figure out what works for you.
That's what we're all about, Side Hustle School. Seven days a week, 3,050 days and counting. Let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of those thousands of episodes. Of course, you can always subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts for a new episode each day. Thanks for being out there. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. From the Onward Project.
