New Dad Starts Woodworking Hustle While Infant Son Naps

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

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Hey there friends, welcome back to Side Hustle School. This is your host, Chris Guillebeau. Now in yesterday's story, we talked about a paralegal who begins her side hustle while on maternity leave. Well, today I've got a story for you about a new dad whose woodworking hobby turned into a source of new income while his newborn son was napping. It's called a step above decor.

And it's a great example of going from hobby to moneymaking all with no pressure, no risks, and while maintaining complete control. Sounds like a great side hustle, right? I will bring you that no pressure, no risk story right after this quick shout out to our sponsor. [Music]

Scott Lyons has combined his interest in woodworking and business to create a side hustle that allows him to express his creativity. An account director at an advertising agency by day, Scott works on the business side, helping clients develop and organizing their ad campaigns.

On the other side, Scott channels his creativity making rustic decorative ladders with his side hustle a step above decor. With the birth of his first child, Scott's family received a ton of beautiful blankets, some even handmade. Not wanting to just throw them into a closet for storage and looking for a way to display them, Scott stumbled upon a decorative wooden ladder used for just that. When he was growing up, he had learned some woodworking skills and he also used to build his own skateboard ramps. So he figured this was something he could make himself, especially during his son's nap time.

And he was right. While his son slumbered, Scott crafted and soon he had ladders in every room of the house. Friends who family who came to visit would notice and they began making requests for their own. With a bit of encouragement from his wife, he posted a few of them in a local buy sell Facebook group and garnered the interest of about 20 people. It also brought him his first sale outside the family.

That's when the light bulb really turned on, he said. And given that it was his wife's encouragement to make that post, he took her out to dinner to celebrate the sale. Ever since, Scott has been taking one night a week to make the ladders and the rest of the week to work on sales. He started by selling to his local area through referrals, those Facebook buy and sell groups, a platform called Kijiji and another one called LetGo. Startup costs were minimal.

He already had all the tools and stains from previous projects. So it was just the cost of the lumber. He sells his ladders for about $50 each and the materials cost just $5. Since he's been focusing on free advertising, the other $45 covers the blood, sweat and sawdust. Scott typically makes five ladders a week all in one night and his average monthly profit is a bit more than $900.

While his woodworking began as a hobby, Scott isn't worried about losing any enjoyment, having it turned into a small business. He's actually always had an interest in business and considers business a hobby too. In his full-time job, no two projects are ever the same, so there is never truly a clear process that can be replicated from one to the other. But with a step above, he gets into a flow state, allowing him to pop on his headphones and listen to podcasts. Plus, he works on his projects during those nap times, so he doesn't miss out on valuable time with his son.

Woodworking is a therapeutic departure from his day job and he enjoys the balance of repetitive creation. While this project will probably always stay as a side hustle for Scott, it's a nice perk that serves and fuels his hobby while allowing Scott to use the money to take his family on vacations. And as a creative outlet, it serves a different purpose in his career and he appreciates the balance between the two. [Music]

You know, sometimes people ask, "How is this particular side hustle going to grow?" Like, they listen to an episode and they say, "Well, that's nice that he's making $1,000 a month or whatever, but how's he gonna grow that?" And the thing is, not every side hustle needs to grow through a big business. That's not really his goal in this story.

$1,000 a month doing something you enjoy is not only perfectly reasonable, it's also a success. I think it's pretty cool that this guy gets to do a different kind of work than he does for his day job. It's creative, he likes it. Because of all those facts, there's no pressure or risk, and now he gets to see his work in other people's homes. So there are many benefits to starting a side hustle.

Money is, of course, one of them, and this project makes money, like every episode we feature on the show. But there are also other good reasons for starting something like this for yourself too. I hope you enjoyed today's story. As always, remember, inspiration is good, but inspiration combined with action is so much better. Today's show notes, including a peek at those handmade ladders, are at sidehustleschool.com/356.

If you've got a comment or question, give me a call on the Hustle Hotline, 8449 Hustle, or 844-948-7853. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. I'll be back tomorrow. [Music]