We were lucky to catch up with Lindsey Hanson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lindsey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Yes, My husband and I have been making a full-time living with Rustic Oak Designs for 2. 5 years now. It did not happen overnight, but I do think it happened pretty fast for us. Before we did this business full time, Shane did construction (he worked for himself), and I worked full time as an RN at the Mayo Clinic. Less than 1 year into the business, we made the decision to have Shane take on full time. That was a huge decision for us, but it was also needed so we weren’t working so many hours. It was also very scary not knowing how many orders we would receive and when. At this time when he took on the business full time, we were only taking local orders and occasionally going to some pop ups or vendor shows. He still occasionally did some side jobs if they were smaller for the first 2 years. I decided to take on the business full time in June of 2020. This was a huge decision for us as I was making really good money, carried our health benefits and had the job stability of knowing how much we would make every 2 weeks. We have also had many hired hands that have helped us part time and full time over the years.

I do not think we could have sped up the process any more than we did without taking huge risks.

Lindsey , 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?

In the fall of 2017, about a month after my twin girls were born, Shane and I started to make some wood signs. I had talked about doing this for years, but never had the time or the space to do it. At that time, farmhouse was so popular, and I loved the look of framed signs, so we started making those together. Shane would so all the woodworking for me and I did all the design and painting.

We had no intentions on making this a business. We just had hopes of getting a few orders per month and again, it was more of just a fun hobby. We booked our first pop-up shop before we even made our first sign because we had a lot of faith and a lot of support and encouragement from our family. Little did we know that God had much bigger plans in store for us. Not only did we make over 100 items our first month, but we continued to get multiple orders per week and continued to grow. Less than one year into the business, in the fall of 2018, we decided to have Shane take on Rustic Oak Designs full time. Prior to this he had his own construction business.

I, on the other hand, continued to work at the Mayo Clinic as an RN. At this time, we had 4 small kids so in order to fulfill the orders that we were getting, I got up early and stayed up late so that it didn’t take time away from our kids. There was so many 3 am nights and 5 am mornings sitting at my kitchen table painting and stenciling signs, but looking back now, it was all worth it.

Shortly after Shane started making signs full time, we made a huge investment and purchased a printer. Prior to using the printer, we hand painted, and hand stenciled everything. It was such a long process to make just one sign. About a month after we bought the printer, right around Christmas, my computer crashed, and we lost every single one of my files…… I had hundreds. It was devastating to say the least, but I decided to design some new signs and started an Etsy shop at that time (so it was a true blessing in disguise). We were one of the first people online to start printing photos directly onto the wood and shortly after making the listing online, the orders started rolling in. They are still our “best seller” today.

On top of our wood signs, Shane was hand scrolling all of our 3D signs and people loved them. With all of the other orders we were getting, it was hard to find time for him to continue to hand scroll all of the signs, so instead we purchased a laser. Luckily, it was such a success for us that it was paid off in just a few short months. About 1.5 years later we purchased a much larger laser that we are still using today.

We continued to stay very busy, with Mother’s Day and Christmas being our main huge holidays. Being a nurse, a business owner and trying to keep up with everything else, it was getting difficult for me to do it all and I was honestly running on fumes most of the time. Shortly after COVID hit, our sales spiked and we were busier than ever. In June of 2020, we made the decision for me to retire as an RN and work full time with the business as well. We have since hired someone full time to help us and we also have a few helpers that come when they can. We also purchased a second, much larger, laser to help with production. We also recently started a new “brand” called Lake Life which features apparel, hats, mugs, towels, blankets, etc. We are officially “launching” it this Spring, but had had a few items for sale online for those and they sell great for us.

I think it is great how things work out the way they do, especially when you least expect them. When we first moved into our home in the country (back in 2015), we made jokes about how cool it would be to work from home in our shop. Well, because we took a leap of faith, prayed a lot, worked HARD, sacrificed things and placed our trust in God, we have been able to make that dream become our reality.

We specialize in laser cutouts and printed wood signs. Some of our best sellers are our wooden photos that we create, and I would say that is really what we are known for.

I am so proud that we were one of the first businesses that offered these. I am proud that we have built a successful business from ground up that can hopefully continue to grow and leave a legacy for our kids.

I would say that our quality is what sets us apart from others. We may not be the cheapest, but we stand behind our products and the quality is top-notch.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The flexibility that comes with being our own boss and being able to design signs that people want to display in their home is the most rewarding part for us. The opportunity to work from home, choose the hours that we work, and run the business that fits our lifestyle is something that we will never take for granted.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Gosh I think we have really increased our resilience since we opened our business. We used to stress when things went wrong, but now we try and nto stress over the things that we cannot control. We have also really learned how to manage our work-life balance. The first struggle that we were faced with is when I lost all of my design files right after we purchased a printer. I thought I had them properly backed up, but I learned quick that I didn’t. That was a blessing in disguise for us. We just bought the printer, and I had no files, so I quickly designed a bunch of new files and started an Etsy shop. We got sales immediately and we have many “best sellers” online.

Shortly after that, our small laser also started on fire. Luckily, we were watching it, so we were able to put it out right away, but the laser was still a total loss. Luckily we already had a larger laser that we were able to use to fulfill orders.

Just last year, our printer was broke down for 2 full months which meant we did not get any income and we had to spend thousands to fix the issues so we could continue our business. That was stressful for us, but again we tried to make the best out of it since we truly had no control over it. Our customers are amazing, and every one of them was fine with waiting for the product.

Also, when COVID hit the prices of our wood that we used more than doubled in price. It is still almost that same price today. We raised our prices a few dollars, however, we are mainly eating that extra cost that it takes to make the products so that they are still competitively priced and affordable.

Owning a small business and being a parent to 5 kids isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. In fact a lot of the time it can be stressful and exhausting. If you don’t do the work, it doesn’t get done.

But no matter the physical and emotional demands, it’s the most fulfilling + rewarding experience ever. Being able to work with my husband and design signs is an absolute blessing. It is also a blessing that we can work when we want, take off when we want, attend every school event and field trip and truly enjoy living our life. And for that, we are forever grateful

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rusticoakdesign.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/rusticoakdesign
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rusticoakdesign
• Other: www.rusticoakdesign.etsy.com

Image Credits