TBT: Aussie Sketches Old Homes for New Money

Georgia Norton Lodge in Sydney, Australia, draws and sells illustrations of people's homes: a childhood house, a grandparents' place, the first home someone bought. We first featured her in episode 789. This Throwback Thursday, we hear what's changed.

It began in 2014. Her sister was writing a book about Annandale, the neighborhood where they grew up, and asked Georgia, a graphic designer, to make the cover. The publisher wanted an illustrated cover, and Georgia didn't think of herself as a drawer. But she started sketching the buildings that mattered to them, and they turned out cute. Her mom wanted her house drawn. Then a cousin wanted her beach home. She started an Instagram account and built a Squarespace site. Within about 10 days, her first order arrived from Perth, on the opposite side of Australia.

Since then, she quit her day job, which she calls terrifying and amazing. One Christmas she drew 45 houses. The next, she drew 152. Over one year she drew 548 houses and counting, and her revenue grew by more than 1,000 percent. The drawings also led to workshops, writers' festivals, council jobs, and corporate work, including a giant colouring-in book for Atlassian. Her fifth kids' book is next. You can still order your own drawing from georgiadrawsahouse.com, starting at $99.

Growth brought a problem: demand. She's one illustrator with one hand, and she draws every house to order. She sometimes has to turn the shop off, and she skipped a big media moment that could have brought in thousands of dollars. Raising prices bothers her, since she wants to stay accessible. She's weighing another artist, a virtual assistant, or a passive-income product.

Her advice comes from how she did it. She tested the idea with a website first. She drew houses until midnight and woke at 6 a.m. to draw before work. She gave herself a year to match her salary before leaving. That way she didn't have to take every job to pay rent. Follow her on Instagram at @georgiadrawsahouse.