With about 2,700 students at Leesville, students have various hobbies and interests they engage in after school. Skyler Rossner is one of those students. Rossner, a sophomore at Leesville, has a small business on Etsy that originates from her hobby of making stickers.
Rossner had a very modern start. “It’s kind of silly how I decided to start making them, but I was watching a YouTube video and this girl was talking about her sticker shop,” Rossner typed on a Google document. “And I thought to myself, I can do that.”
“I draw them [the stickers] all on an app on my iPad then I print them and my Cricut cuts them just how I like (most of the time),”
Cricuts are cutting and writing machines with various uses such as making stickers, inscribing cards, and labels.
Rossner makes laptop decals and stickers for water bottles. “I have made custom orders too though, logo stickers, ornaments, sweatshirts,” Rossner typed. “I can pretty much make anything with my Cricut.”
Rossner loves the creative outlet stickers give her. “I think it is so fun because I can really come up with new designs anywhere. It is like a constant scavenger hunt of “oh that is super cool and would make a fun sticker,’” Rossner typed. “It also is teaching me amazing skills of time management, deadlines, creativity, how to brainstorm, and communication with others.”
Rossner opened her shop on November 28, 2020. Since she started during the pandemic, running her business has its additional difficulties.
“It has been difficult to get the word out because you can’t really go anywhere to advertise,” Rossner typed. “For instance, the school would be a great place to tell people about my business, tell my teacher but we are stuck at home.”
Rossner has also experienced some perks of being a business owner during the pandemic. “I’ve worked with lots of different small business owners and we have traded products and reviewed them,” Rossner typed. “It’s also great because people are trying to shop online so they don’t have to leave their house which is great for me.”
“I’ve been open for roughly 3 months (all during the pandemic) and have gotten orders from 13 states, so I shouldn’t be complaining!”
Another set of challenges Rossner faces is that she runs her company by herself, but she finds it worth it. “Being virtual in school has definitely been super beneficial. I try to get all my homework done before 3, then I would work on orders or product photos with whatever time I have left.”
Rossner’s last set of challenges of her hobby is running a successful small business on Etsy. She admits it is very hard to accomplish. “It obviously took me a lot of time getting my stock ready, getting all my materials for orders, figuring out shipping and product cost,” Rossner typed.
Overall, Rossner is proud of the work she is doing and hopes to expand her business in the future.