Substitute Teacher Earns $1,500/Month Making Wooden Signs

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

[Music]

Greetings and welcome to Side Hustle School. So glad you're here. My name is Chris Guillebeau. I'm your host. Today's story is about a substitute teacher who earns an extra $1,500 a month making wooden signs.

Now I recently read a book that I really liked. It was called "Life of the Party," the remarkable story of how Brownie Wise built and lost a Tupperware Party empire. And this book is a biography, but it's almost one part story of this woman, Brownie Wise, and one part story of the corporation Tupperware. It's a really interesting story because this woman almost single-handedly built the Tupperware business, or at least helped grow it to what it became, huge, huge company. But then like the subtitle implies, she also lost that empire.

So she herself is a fascinating character with a lot of complexity. But I was also interested in learning about the business model of Tupperware parties. And if you've never heard of this before, one way to think of it is Tupperware parties or anything like that, they were essentially the social media of the 1950s. One person would be a host, they were kind of like an influencer, a local influencer, and they would host a party. And then a bunch of other people would come to the party and they would hang out and gossip and play games, have a good time.

But then there was also the sales component of the whole thing where people were more or less expected to purchase something before they left. And a lot of people ordered a lot of Tupperware. Now some other businesses use this same model, and it's still around today. It's not as common, but it still happens. So once again, great book, it's called "Life of the Party." And I mentioned that book because today's story uses that Tupperware party model to grow her side hustle.

So in this episode, I'll tell you how she got the idea for the project, how she made it happen, and of course what the results have been and what those results have meant to her. Details are coming up after this quick thank you to our sponsor. [Music]

Connecticut native, Abby Rocker Priori, is no stranger to side hustles. After dropping out of college, Abby did all sorts of jobs to make money and support her family. One of those jobs was an eco-friendly cleaning business she started.

That business did well, but she realized it was too much for her to handle. So she sold her share of the business to her sister. After that experience, she went back to school working various retail jobs as she took night classes. Once she graduated, she was able to work as a substitute teacher. Working with kids was something that Abby truly enjoyed and she was able to keep doing that as she explored another side hustle idea at the same time.

Here's how it came about. Her friend Rachel had noticed someone upload an artsy wooden sign she had made on Facebook. She talked with Abby about it and said, "Maybe you could make a business out of this." Abby was reluctant at first, but Rachel was persistent. And with coaxing from her husband as well, she decided to go for it. Now making these wooden signs is not exactly complicated, but it can be tedious.

Abby acquired the wood she needed at the local lumber yard with whom she already had a relationship. And instead of cash, she paid the yard owners with a 30 pack of Budweiser. This was also the case for the pallet she used, which she got from a friend for another 30 pack of Budweiser. Apparently Budweiser is the currency of the sign business. The real work comes when Abby designs her stencils.

She gets inspiration from designs on Pinterest and motivational quotes she comes across. She then cuts those designs on a simple device called the Silhouette Cameo, which she purchased on Amazon. In addition to those 60 cans of Budweiser, her startup costs for equipment and first batch of materials cost approximately $1,200. This was money that Abby usually wouldn't have to invest in an idea, but she had been saving for a year with the goal of taking a trip west with her husband. However, her supportive husband insisted that she spend the money on this side hustle.

And that's when the side hustle officially kicked off. It was called a Pinot and Pallet. Abby's first customer was her sister, and then she tried a few other strategies, including reaching out to local shops, potentially doing a holiday pop-up store in the outlet mall, local trade and craft fairs, et cetera. But then she found the strategy that worked best of all for her. This strategy is those Tupperware parties I mentioned, where a host is organizing a social gathering and everyone who attends participates in the activity of making wooden signs.

Abby comes in as the expert. She provides the materials and guidance to make the signs. Guests can select from a choice of six to eight designs. They can also request a custom design based on an idea they have, and they'll pay $40 for this experience. Now, Abby requires at least 10 guests per event, so that means she's never making less than $400.

And after each event, she posts photos to her Facebook page, which has led to three to four inquiries on average every time she's posted a report. She's now thinking of expanding into signs for weddings and businesses, and all told she's making anywhere between $1,300 and $2,000 a month, hosting these parties in between her substitute teaching and the rest of her life. This extra money has been great. She's now earning the equivalent of her startup costs every month, but she also really loves the fact that she can do more creative work. Her side hustle has also given her the opportunity to get out and meet new people.

This local brand and Facebook page has gotten a lot of recognition, and once in a while, when she's taking her kids to soccer practice, she hears the question, "Hey, are you the person from Pino and Palette?" She has never felt more empowered. Sometimes the idea for a side hustle comes in all sorts of unexpected ways. The universe may not drop any signs, but you could always do what Abby did and make them yourself. [Music]

So many people out there are embracing the side hustle way, doing all kinds of different creative things for every story we're featuring on the show, we're now hearing from a whole bunch of other ones as well. So I'm really happy to see so many people out there just going for it and trying different ideas, keeping their risk low so that if it doesn't work out, it's okay, you can do something else, but just exploring this world of making something and offering it for sale, which often leads to that strong sense of empowerment, which I think is one of the greatest things about starting a project like this, to be able to look at it and feel good, to feel proud of what you've made, to have somebody at your soccer practice say, "Hey, did you make that?

Are you the person who does that?" It's really exciting. I honestly think it's just gonna get more and more common. I suppose you could say it's a sign of the times. Thank you for listening today. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better.

The show notes for this episode are at sidehustleschool.com/314. I'm Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]