Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lisa Reyes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lisa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I’d always been a person with a project, tinkering with something, figuring things out, but reflected on the fact the using my creative mind was something that brought me the most joy and as I was reaching 40 I realized I wasn’t doing that as much anymore. I have worked in the dental industry for over 20 years (which I love) and during this time I’ve live by the motto that “the smile is the sunshine of our soul”. As life moved forward I realized I wanted to do something that brought a smile to a persons face and joy to their heart! That led me to pick back up on my desire to do yard carding, which was something I had dismissed several years before thinking it wasn’t in my budget to start this business along with all the other things on my plate with volunteering, and most importantly being a wife and a mother while working full time; however in early 2019 I set myself on a mission to make it happen. After posting in random groups seeking information, probing for details on any social media page I could find, a stranger who would ultimately become my friend reached out to me via Facebook Messenger saying she could help me, at first I thought Is this too good to be true, but with faith over fear I put my trust in a complete stranger and this yard carding adventure began.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Lisa Reyes, I am the founder/owner of Lawn Greetings – Fort Bend. I am an avid volunteer, wife, mom, dental profession by day and a yard carder by night! Yard carding is not for the faint of heart, believe me it is so much more to it than just sticking stakes in the ground. It requires time, effort, and some serious creativity. I never do the same card twice, each sign is created for the individual it was ordered for. I try to tell a story in my designs, I want the receiver to know that card was created just for them, with colors and imagines that tell about who they are. I’ve always taken the time to speak to my customers, and yes as easy as it would be to create a form and make it all automated I enjoy the engagement part. I enjoy the stories about their 95 year grandma, or how their friend is ending Chemo, or how proud a parent is that their child is going to state for sports. Approaching 3 years in business I have set up over 2000 signs and I take pride in knowing I have been the direct point of contact for each of them as they explain to me how they want to celebrate someone they love, being mindful to do my best to create the vision of what they had in mind in the final product.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Authenticity, and transparency of who I am I feel played a large role in building my reputation in the community and trust in choosing me when they could have chosen another. I have always had a strong connection to my community, I volunteer and have held leadership positions in different organizations over the years. When I initially started this business we didn’t have very many like it in my area, and I’ll be honest when I look back at some of my first signs I believe it had to be who I was as a person in my community, not because my signs were so amazing! As time went on they got better of course with practice and I continue to give back to my community, help them celebrate their victories, showcased schools that maybe didn’t get the same exposure as others, or we provide Thanksgiving feasts to nominated families each year, because I feel that without my community I would not be who I am today, and I truly value every one of my customers wholeheartedly.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
I mentioned previously that I met a random stranger on the internet and that a Facebook messenger conversation propelled my business into a reality. When I met my now friend, she was also a yard carder in another state but she was branching out wanting to be a vendor, but people hadn’t taken the bait to send this woman they didn’t know money for the product she was offering. I do remember very clearly, I was sitting at my sons high school football game and the message came through. I read it and thought is this a scam, but she seemed genuine and knowledgeable and I took a chance. We spoke and I gave her a budget of what I could do each week, each month creating a plan of what she felt or I felt was the necessities to create a successful Yard Card business on a budget. Each week over a period of a couple months I set aside money to begin building my inventory. Over the course of that time, I asked everyone I knew if I could set a yard card up in their yard for exposure. When something new arrived that week from my allotted budget I created a sign design and staged them around town, before I knew it orders were coming in and I used those funds to purchase more inventory gradually building my business with very minimal dept.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Lawngreetings.fortbend
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawngreetings.fortbend