This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
From DIY pet tributes to six figure Etsy shop. That's our topic today. That's our story today. Welcome to Side Hustle School. Welcome as well to Throwback Thursday.
In this segment, we take a look at someone whose story has evolved since we first featured them. Now, last week we heard from a 3D printing enthusiast who scaled from making small gifts to crafting high-end home decor for designers and boutique stores. Today in our latest segment, we'll hear from a maker who turns a small Etsy shop selling custom pet memorials into a six figure shop. Six figures helping grieving pet owners honor their companions. So what's happened since?
Her name is Ashley. Let's hear a bit about the genesis of the idea, how she got it going, and then what she has done since our last feature. Let's pass the mic to her. I'll come back at the end for a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hi, I'm Ashley, and I run a custom pet memorial shop that now brings in more than six figures a year.
It started as a small side hustle, something I did for friends who had lost pets, but as the demand grew, I realized I had tapped into something much bigger than I expected. The idea came from personal experience. When my childhood dog passed away, I searched for a memorial that felt personal and unique, but I couldn't find anything that truly honored his personality. So I made my own, a simple handcrafted plaque with his name and a charm from his collar. I didn't think much of it at the time, but everyone who came over commented on it.
After I made another one for a friend whose cat passed away, I started taking the idea more seriously. At first I was experimenting with different materials, wood engraving, resin casting, hand painted stones, just trying to create something special for people grieving their pets. I listed a few items on Etsy not expecting much. Within a week I had two orders. Within a month I was filling requests almost daily.
The emotional connection people had with these products made all of the difference. Every order came with a personal story, someone's first dog, a beloved cat, a pet that had helped them through hard times. Customers weren't just buying a product, they were trusting me with something deeply meaningful to them. I quickly realized that if I wanted to turn this into a real business, I needed to reevaluate the whole process. The first step was optimizing my Etsy listings and building my Shopify store.
I analyzed what people were searching for, updated my product descriptions to be more SEO friendly, and introduced a variety of price points. I also started offering premium upgrades like gold leaf engraving, hand painted pet portraits, and memory boxes. The second step was outsourcing parts of production. I didn't want to mass produce these items, but I found ways to streamline. I partnered with a local laser cutting business to create engraved nameplates, which I then finished my hand with custom colors and details.
With these changes, I was able to go from five to 10 orders a week to fulfilling a hundred plus orders a month. The average order value also increased from $40 to around $85 as I introduced more customization options and bundled items together. Etsy alone was great, but I knew I needed to build a direct relationship with customers. That's why I set up the Shopify account. This helped drive more traffic to my shop, and before long, I was getting direct orders from people who had followed me for months.
Some vet offices now refer grieving pet owners to my shop, and a few even display sample pieces in their offices. That level of trust has been huge for the business. This past year, my Etsy shop crossed $100,000 in revenue. What started as a DIY project for my own dog has turned into something much bigger. I still handle every order personally, making sure that each piece is customized with care.
But now, instead of struggling to keep up, I have a well-run system that allows me to grow while keeping quality high. I feel really fortunate to do this work, and I'm glad it's been able to help so many people during a tough time. [Music]
Big thanks to Ashley for sharing those updates with us. Listeners, let me know what you think and who you'd like to see featured from our archives of thousands of episodes. In Ashley's case, she's found a way to do something that is really personal and can be deeply meaningful to someone who's grieving a loss of their pet, which of course is a family member for lots of people, especially when you've had that pet for years.
Maybe kids have grown up around the animal and so on. And of course, there's a natural life cycle to pets. So it's naturally a need that a lot of people have, in that situation. Anyway, good for her, well done, Ashley. And also listeners, remember there's something that you can do as well.
There's something that you can make or sell or otherwise take some expertise or knowledge that you have, find a way to transform it into an offer and put it on the marketplace and find your ideal customers and make their lives better and you get paid as well, right? I want you to be able to do both of those things. That's what we're all about. So we've got more episodes coming up, of course, and the complete archives are available for free on sidehustleschool.com. That's all for now.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
