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May 22, 2023

South Milwaukee mom uses Facebook group to sell custom tees, tumblers

A conversation with friends about ordering hair bows for their daughters led Joy

A conversation with friends about ordering hair bows for their daughters led Joy Paul to start a new side hustle of custom clothing and accessories.

The hair bows were never ordered but instead Paul, a South Milwaukee resident, purchased a Cricut machine.

"It sat in a box for a while, it was a little intimidating," Paul said. A Cricut machine cuts various material. Paul uses it to cut vinyl designs that are pressed onto shirts.

After some trial and error and several YouTube and TikTok videos later, Paul now operates BEA-Joyful Boutique, a Facebook group with over 550 members where her unique shirts and tumblers are sold. Paul hopes to launch a Shopify store in the next few months as well.

"I actually love doing it," Paul said. "I just love seeing the prints come to life."

The name came from the first letter of Paul's children's names: Brooklynn (17), Ella (8) and Aiden (7). Her oldest helps with the business but is more focused on other things.

Originally, the Facebook group was named "Just Craftin’ Around," but Paul wanted "a name with more meaning behind it." The final version of the group name was a mix of a few ideas from friends.

Despite only doing orders via an invoice in the Facebook group, the business is booming.

Recently Paul held a fundraiser for a friend who recently lost her husband. She's still finalizing the numbers, but Paul estimated the effort earned $1,200 with 112 shirts sold.

Word got out about Paul's work after her daughter wore a custom shirt at Rawson Elementary and another mom saw it.

Paul designs all the custom work herself via Designspace on Canva. Her inspiration comes from those who order.

"They’ll have a vision, I’ll draw it up in Designspace and send it to them first," she said.

As she progressed and joined a few online shirt groups, Paul was introduced to screen printing which she orders online.

The basic business model is a print company buys from designers and customers, like Paul, can buy the prints. Paul orders shirts and presses the purchased prints on them herself.

Paul said she has a feel for what her group likes which is usually "outdoor sorts of stuff and holiday prints," she said. She never buys a screen print before showing it to the group to gauge interest.

Since discovering screen printing, Paul now only uses her Cricut machine for custom work. Customs are more time consuming with shirts taking about an hour and tumblers taking up to four hours.

Paul has been doing the custom work with the Cricut since last summer; she introduced screen printing around October or November.

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Paul hopes to get into sublimation which she said is "a whole ‘nother ball game." This would allow her to do can koozies/sleeves, shirts, tumblers and more. However, the printers are hard to come by now likely due to inflation and because crafting became very popular during the coronavirus lockdowns, Paul said.

"TikTok is huge and that world has opened people's eyes, too," she said. "The normal price (for a machine) is about $500 but I can't find one for less than $1,000."

The business is expanding. Recently some moms at E.W. Luther Elementary in South Milwaukee aske for some shirts. Paul is planning to speak with the school to be able to use the official logos.

Paul also is interested to work with local businesses or groups if they need some custom work.

A current full-time server at the Olive Tree Café in Oak Creek, Paul hopes to one day make BEA-Joyful Boutique her main job.

"I would make if full time if I could," she said.

Contact Erik S. Hanley at [email protected]. Like his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter at @ES_Hanley.