Today we’d like to introduce you to Robyn Goldstein.
Robyn, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Early on during the pandemic, my husband Brian and I were challenging one another what businesses would be thriving during this time, as the franchise we had invested in 18 months prior, Row House and StretchLab were both closed because of COVID 19 and I was now working from home. We were being creative, bouncing ideas off one another, as we saw the world around us changing so quickly. For my birthday, two weeks prior to the conversation, I had gotten an iPad Pro/ Apple Pencil to reengage in my childhood hobby of drawing. Each night we would walk with our two children and see so many yard signs/ yard greetings popping up in the neighborhood to attempt to celebrate all the canceled celebrations, I suggested ‘What if we did something to for celebrations in people’s front yards that was unique and different than the greetings or balloons that we now regularly saw. The ideas ranged from giant blow up characters to cut-outs, so I suggested as my prototype creating a way to thank frontline workers to put in our yard, as we live close to the medical center and could show our gratitude for how hard everyone was working. It was at that point – YardPeeps began. As we were trying to figure out how to produce the first signs, while on a run I decided the characters I had drawn could be turned into a single smaller yard sign that we could sell and raise funds for some of the organizations suffering because of the pandemic. So after finishing the drawing, I posted it on Facebook to see what my network thought — within a few hours, I had almost 100 requests from friends and family wanting to order, friends from out of state asking if we could ship them out.
People were Venmoing me when I didn’t even have a price set. Luckily, Brian was my tech guru and put up a very basic website. We were barely set up when 15 orders came in through the website, and at this point we realized we needed a way to process orders. Less than a week after the post, we had over 500 orders and I hadn’t even seen a physical sign yet. I had one rush printed just to make sure it looked right. Within three weeks, we had already sold 1k signs. Two months after launching, our sign reached all 50 states.
Fast forward four months later and we have now sold nearly 4,000 YardPeeps signs. We have raised more than $15,000 for a Houston nonprofit, Brighter Bites, and nearly $3,000 for regional food banks through Feeding America. We also added additional signs including a military thank you, teacher thank you, social justice/ Black Lives Matter signs, as well as customized signs for any occasion including, birthdays, anniversaries, bar/bat mitzvahs and graduation.
Mail carriers have been obsessed with our signs and we’ve gifted many to the USPS and other frontline workers.
Our fitness studios are open with restrictions and are doubling as pickup sites for YardPeeps. We continue to explore ways to create large life-size cut out characters, creating a subscription model, where seasonal signs get delivered to homes and other ways to grow and evolve the business. Each design is hand-drawn on my iPad and my goal is to make people smile through my artwork.
Spreading happiness is here to stay. It’s one of the positive things to come out of the pandemic, I am thankful to give back, continue to grow it and spread as much joy to as many people as possible.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s only been four months, but while it’s been so exciting to see the business explode and go viral, there have also been challenges and growing pains. But overall, it’s been an incredible journey.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
YardPeeps is me, with the support of my husband Brian, and family members. Because we are just starting up, I do everything from drawing the signs, entering orders, to personally delivering some of the signs. I am most proud of all the money we have been able to raise for non-profits and how far and wide our signs have gone.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My husband Brian is a huge support, from my IT guru to chief challenger, constantly helping me to grow the business.
My kids have been my biggest cheerleaders, talking about my signs, pointing them out in the neighborhood and even delivering some signs.
My dad always helps with my in town deliveries and helping however he can. My mom and other family members have helped to promote my sign and given feedback.
Finally, my social media network, they have shared my posts, bought signs and helped me reach all 50 states.
Bottom line, without my family and friends, YardPeeps wouldn’t be where it is without all of them.
Pricing:
- Our signs start at $20 and most are between $20-25;
- Semi custom signs begin at $45 with customization upgrades.
- Fully custom signs begin at $95.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yardpeeps.com
- Email: info@yardpeeps.com
- Instagram: YardPeeps
- Facebook: YardPeeps
- Twitter: YardPeeps
Image Credit:
Nicole Ivey Photography for the personal picture and family picture.
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