Side Hustle School Ep. 3347 - STORY: Trader Joe’s Sign Artist Earns $43,200 Selling Tea-Stained Prints
Mar 1, 2026
A Trader Joe’s sign artist turns public-domain art into tea-stained prints sold online. He experiments with quirky animal mashups and adds custom options after a surprise first sale. The hustle scales from a $300 startup to steady monthly profit, long-term growth, and major life changes.
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Mom's Birthday Gift Became a Business
- Elliot Adesso used tea-staining and a public-domain 1800s illustration to make a handcrafted gift for his mom that looked antique and framed well.
- That single experiment launched a library of royalty-free collages he later sold as prints on Etsy.
Look For Proven Listings To Adapt Fast
- Study competitors' listings to spot repeatable product formats you can adapt and improve.
- Elliot copied the public-domain-on-dictionary-page pattern he saw on Etsy, then differentiated with tea-staining and custom animal requests.
First Pug Print Revealed What Sells
- After his first sale of a pug-riding-a-whale print, Elliot noticed buyers wanted more whimsical animal combos and added a custom option.
- Following customer requests turned one sale into 1,000 that first year and then 2,500 orders the next year.