A MOTHER and entrepreneur has revealed that she started her side hustle from her sofa, with just £250 whilst on maternity leave, but it is now an extremely successful business, raking in a whopping £9 million a year.
Jess Munday, 33, a mum-of-two who is currently pregnant with her third child, launched her business, Custom Neon, with her husband Jake, 33, back in May 2018.
Now, Jess, from Melbourne, Australia, mum to Jagger, five and Indiana, two, has 32 members of staff and is able to take her family on plush holidays every year.
Opening up about her successful side hustle, that is now a booming business, Jess revealed to Fabulous: “It started back in May 2018, it was pretty random to be honest. It wasn’t something that I had planned on doing but it kind of just happened out of nowhere.
“I was going on maternity leave for my son and it was a bit of an apprehensive time, I was feeling nervous about being on maternity leave and not working.
“My husband and I were decorating our son’s nursery and we wanted a neon sign, but we found it really hard to find one.
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“We contacted different companies and they took ages to come back to us. We eventually got one and at the same time we were planning our wedding and thought we could get some signs for our day, so we put two and two together and started chatting and one thing led to another.”
That’s where the idea for Custom Neon, a global manufacturer and retailer of custom-designed LED neon lights and signs, was born.
Jess and Jake’s clever idea not only filled a gap in the market, but has also proved incredibly profitable for the pair too.
Jess added: “Consecutively now, we turn over £9 million a year in sales. We’ve been able to meet that for the last couple of years.
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“It’s crazy, very unexpected, and it’s been such an amazing opportunity and learning experience. It’s changed our lives.”
Jess explained that the couple decided to rent out the neon signs that they had used for their wedding and their business quickly took off.
The couple had a variety of neon signs for their special day, including ‘All you need is love’, ‘Better together’, a big love heart and ‘Eat, drink, dance.’
She continued: “We took lots of photos of them at the wedding and just started re-sharing those on Instagram, to promote hiring out and selling the signs to people.
“I did that when my son was a couple of months old and it went off from there. We had lots of people who were really interested in the products and wanted custom signs and there was a huge demand for it.
“What we thought was going to be an events hire company, where we would hire out the signs we originally purchased, which was an initial investment of £250, we then turned it into a business and people were trying to order signs through our Instagram page.
“We didn’t even have a website and people were trying to order through our Instagram. It all happened in the first year of my son’s life while I was sitting on the couch.
“The event hire part of the business was doing really well, people wanted them for their weddings and parties as well.
“Businesses were asking to get their business name and logo so we started doing small batches with our manufacturer at the same time as renting out our wedding signs.”
Consecutively now, we turn over £9 million a year in sales. We’ve been able to meet that for the last couple of years.
As the business grew and the pair began selling custom signs, within just three months, Jess and her husband’s business was selling more than £5,000 worth of signage a week.
Jess said: “We essentially do what our business name is, so we create custom neon signs.
“We use LED neon, which is a modern take on the vintage, glass neon.
“We do custom signs for all occasions – anything from a vintage cafe sign or something for a baby’s room.
“Our customers can go to our website and use our online design tool to design their own sign.
“You can choose from 18 different colours and 40 different fonts.
“In October 2018, we turned over £66,000 in the month – I remember that as being a bit of a milestone for us.
“Between 2018 and 2021, the business continued to grow every single month and every single year, we were on an upward trajectory.
“It’s not until now that we’ve levelled out a little bit, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because we are maintaining.
“I was due to go back to work in January 2019 and I didn't go back because by that point we had gotten so big that we needed to hire a small team to help us.
“Me and my husband were doing it from home, shipping from the garage – our garage was full of signs.
“Once I put my son to bed I would get the orders ready to ship. We shipped packages all across the world, from our home.
“We were working big hours at that point, especially before we hired a team because we were trying to keep up with the enquiries and sending out packages.
“We would have to quote people to let them know how much their order would be, which we could do on the couch from our laptops, but it was very time-consuming. We were both probably working maybe 12 hours a day.
“I look back at it now and I think, ‘wow, that was crazy’, but it’s just what we had to do at the time to see where we could take the business.”
In October 2018, we turned over £66,000 in the month – I remember that as being a bit of a milestone for us.
Prior to launching her side hustle, Jess was working in human resources.
She explained: “I was working in a completely different environment before, I was working in HR in recruitment.
“I didn’t know how to start my business or what to do.
“I’d worked in retail and customer service throughout university so there was that element that I knew but starting a business Instagram, back then, there weren’t that many resources out there to show you how to do it.
“It was a trial and error process.”
Jess explained that they started out with a manufacturer in China, and now, they have three different manufactures that they work with.
She continued: “We had a manufacturing partner, based out of Shanghai, that we initially started working with. Now we have manufacturers in three different locations – in Shanghai, here in Australia, and in Los Angeles.
“We have moved offices about four times – as the business has grown, we have outgrown our spaces and in the last 12 months we have built our own facility, so it is an office and a factory.
“We have 32 team members based across the globe – we have a team in the UK, in the US and in Australia.”
Thanks to her business success, Jess revealed that she is now able to work flexibly and regularly take her family on lavish holidays.
The entrepreneur noted: “It’s been extremely beneficial to us. Now that we’ve got more team members, I can now have more flexibility to balance being a mum and running a business.
We took our kids to Disneyland and Fiji last year. By the time my son was two, he had been to five different countries.
“I work the equivalent of four days a week but now I’ve got more flexibility with start and finish times so I can work around the kids.
“Holidays have been a priority to us. Now we are able to take those opportunities more and more.
“We would always go on holidays but back then we would be working on our holidays, but now we can switch off and enjoy our family time together.
“We took our kids to Disneyland and Fiji last year. By the time my son was two, he had been to five different countries.”
If you are looking to launch your own side hustle, Jess has shared her expert advice.
She explained: “One thing I’ve realised is that we all have our strengths and our weaknesses but instead of trying really, really hard at something that you’re not great at, try and find someone that’s great at that and work with them.
“Reach out and connect with other people with different skill sets. Having the right people around you will help with decision making and where to go next.
“Be brave to change and try new things sometimes. Don’t be resistant to change. Sometimes it’s important to let go and trust other people’s advice, this can be really important to move your business forward.
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“You can’t be naive and think that you will build and grow a business without putting in the time and effort.
“You don’t know where the future holds and where it will take you. It’s important to accept that you’re never going to be done. There will always be more work to do.”
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