We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Goth. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.

Hi Katie, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Owning your own business and building it from the ground up is truly one of the most amazing feelings in the world.
To be successful it truly takes hard work, dedication, support and balance. Most importantly you have to figure out your “why”. In my case my husband, kids and licensees are my “why”. In theory it sounds amazing to start your own business. I don’t know if people truly know the hard work, sweat, tears and trial and errors it takes to make a small business thrive behind the scenes. When you are tired and feeling defeated is when your support and dedication make you successful. Owning a business means you can’t give up or stop you have to work you hardest in the trenches. This is where your support team comes in. Whether its customers. industry partners, families or friends or in my case our licensees, having the support around you is the “why” to push you to keep going.

One of the hardest things of being a business owner is finding balance with personal life and “work”. As a business owner you don’t shut your computer off at closing time and move on to your persona life. Your business is your personal life. As a mom to 2 young kids balance is what has helped me go from the trenches to success. One of my favorite sayings “you can’t pour from any empty cup”. Figure out your “why” for your business and I can’t wait to watch you flourish in both your personal life and business!

Katie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Yard deSIGNS, LLC is a family-owned yard card rental business. We provide customized greetings to be displayed in your yard with endless possibilities to celebrate any special occasion. We deSIGN, deliver, and remove your greeting for you. Yard deSIGNS has been around since 2018. We have grown to having 25 licensees nationwide. We have openings across the nation for entrepreneurs to become their own Yard deSIGNS owner. I think what sets us a part most from other is that we are truly family owned and treat our licensees as such. We also run our own location in Lee’s summit, MO and set up locally in our community. Being able to actual do the work our licensees do on a daily basis truly helps us to connect with them.

It is challenging to say the least to pick one thing I am most proud of in our business. If I did have to pick one it would be watching licensees become successful. From the initial interview of a licensee to watching them grow throughout their contract is the most rewarding part of Yard deSIGNS. I have got to witness many moms/dads be able to stay home and raise their families instead of having to work a 9-5 with this business. Being able to watch others success if the most rewarding part of Yard deSIGNS.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

In 2017 My little sister graduated from Nursing school, and my mom wanted to order a yard sign there were no companies in our area at the time to set-up. So We decided to order one online ourselves to set up. We realized these online signs were not weather friendly and would not survive the snow we had. So it was a bust. This led my mom, Becky Johnson, Owner and co-founder, and aunt Tracey Wiley to start considering what it would take to start a yard sign company. Yard deSIGNS was born. They approached me to come to assist with marketing. I had a full-time job and decided it was something I would love to work on with them for nights and weekends. With a degree in marketing and background in events, it just made sense. After some market research, They worked fast to find our inventory and get us up and running. By the 2018 graduation season, we had an online website, some social media pages, and advertising started. We did 50 signs in May. We quickly realized this part-time garage business was growing faster than expected. We spent the next year nailing down vendors, working with our now graphic designer, and customizing custom inventory for Yard deSIGNS. We also worked on creating an easy, one-of-a-kind online website platform. After a successful year of sales, custom inventory to survive any weather condition, and a one-of-a-kind website platform with easy online ordering for the customer, we started getting numerous requests for signs in different cities and states. With this being a rental business, we could not fulfill the request. We worked with a great team and decided that offering entrepreneurs the option to become a Yard deSIGNS licensee were the way to go. Fast forward to today, we are now in 12 states, have 25 locations, and are continuing to grow! Yard deSIGNS is the best leap of faith I have ever taken. I combine my business background with my creative side to help bring smiles to the community and help entrepreneurs start their businesses.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe customer satisfaction and community involvement has truly helped build our reputation within our market. We truly pride ourselves on making sure each and everyone of our deSIGNS are customized to tell the story of the recipient of the yard card. Word of mouth is what got us to where are today not only within the Lees Summit area but our nationwide licensees as well. Spreading smiles within the community, supporting local businesses and industry partners is all wildly a part of our success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theyarddesigns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yarddesignsllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yarddesignscorporate
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@yarddesigns