He started his small business in his backyard with an idea that anyone could pick up on. He lives more than well and has more time for himself.
It took Rodney Melton just over a year to build a six-figure side hustle. In March 2021, he began casting, engraving, and selling headstones for pet burials on Etsy. He had long been playing around with concrete and stone while working 60 hours a week at his “day” job.
He already owned an engraver and had his own workshop which he had built behind his house. Initially, it took Melton two or three days to cast the headstones, then another five hours to engrave them. As his side business grew, the income flowed in, so he reinvested a combination of his profits and savings into other tools, such as a sandblaster, a granite saw, and a laser engraver. Each new piece of equipment reduced his production time, allowing him to sell more.
In May 2022, his Etsy store earned him nearly $20,000, and Melton quit his full-time job. Today, he works less and spends more time with his family, having hired his daughter and daughter-in-law last summer. Last year, their four-person business generated more than $200,000 on Etsy. Melton estimates that about two-thirds of that is net profit, and he expects to achieve similar revenue this year.
He says, “Anyone can do it. In my opinion it would take 10,000 euros or less to get started. That would cover the cement molds and sandblasting equipment.” It’s all about passion. His mother died at the end of 2020, and it was hard for him. He then began making objects like concrete crosses, 3D roses and memorial plaques. It all started there. Then, one of his friends lost his dog.
When it comes to work-life balance since Melton does this full-time, his wife, daughter and daughter-in-law work about five hours a day. He works a few meters from his house, which gives him much more time to be with his family. He manages to make a good living and says that if he were younger he might produce large headstones for cemeteries, but they are much larger items.
