Engraved Gifts Side Hustle

Aug 18, 2025

Sarah and Jake from Lawrence Park, PA.

We live in a small town, Lawrence Park, just outside of Erie, Pennsylvania. Sarah grew up here and Jake is now a teacher here. We love being a part of a small community.

What do you like most about Lawrence Park?

Sarah's brother and her parents live a few blocks away. Sarah works from home for her day job and Jake walks 4 blocks to work to teach high schoolers.

We love having everything close by. We are also just a mile or so from beautiful Lake Erie! We love where we live.

What’s your backstory?

Sarah was always a creative entrepreneur. Since she was little, she was creating things. In 2015, she opened a coffee shop in town (on the same street we now live on). In 2020, we decided to purchase our first laser to start creating new things.

What started with earrings has turned into earrings, personalized gifts and more. In 2023 we upgraded our laser to be able to do tumblers and bigger items. In 2024, Sarah closed the coffee shop to pursue other ventures and we purchased a portable laser to do personalization at on-site events.

In the last year or so we have branched out into apparel and DIY hat bars. There's always something new with us - when someone asks what we make or sell, that's always a loaded question!

What are your income streams?

We sell online and attend craft/vendor fairs in the area through the spring, summer and into the holiday season. We also host DIY Hat bars at local businesses and in peoples' homes.

How have you attracted new customers?

It's been slow and steady. We already had a customer base from when we sold items out of our coffee shop. We've slowly been working our way into local markets and events, and getting to know and network with others.

Social media collaboration has been super helpful for us - pairing up with other small businesses for events or giveaways. And ultimately, word of mouth. We just got two requests today to engrave items for wedding gifts (for this weekend!). Both of those came from word-of-mouth referrals.

What is your favorite product?

We've recently fired up the sewing machine and started making some fun, unique sweatshirts. The one below is for our local high school. We love being able to make one-of-a-kind items that people also love.

If you could go back, would you do anything differently?

I (Jake) wish Sarah would have convinced me to buy the laser sooner. I was hesitant to make the investment but looking back I should have started a lot sooner!

What are your goals?

We would love to turn this into a full-time job - at least for Sarah - and we are not there yet. Everytime money comes in, we are putting money right back out to pay off bills, pay for new supplies, etc.

We would also love to own a brick and mortar again someday, instead of hauling items in and out of our car every weekend - but haven't found the right space yet.