Hand-made stickers and colouring books sold from a home studio

The idea

You draw original designs, print them as stickers and colouring-book pages, and sell them from a home studio through an online shop and at weekend markets. The product is cheap, light to post and easy to give as a gift, so customers buy several pieces at once.

The story is told in Thai business media about Elyse Burns, an American artist from the Carolinas who runs the brand Elyse Breanne Design. She started in 2015, at 18, with a couple of drawings, and the business grew until she repaid a student loan for law studies of roughly 2.5 million baht (about $70,000). The article also mentions total sales of around 155 million baht (roughly $4.3 million). That is an exceptional result; the smallest version is simply a few designs and a first order.

Who it fits

Anyone who can draw by hand or on a tablet and is patient with packing and small orders. It works beside a job: designing in the evenings, posting a few parcels a week and doing one market on the weekend. A table, a corner of a room and a phone for photos are enough. It suits students, parents at home and hobby artists, and works in any country with cheap printing and a postal service.

Costs and revenue

These figures are editorial estimates, not from the source. Expect roughly $200–900 to start: a small printer or paid test runs at a print shop, sticker paper or vinyl, a cutter, protective sleeves, packaging, and a market table fee.

• Single stickers often sell for about $2–5, sets and colouring books for $8–20.
• Material cost per sticker is typically a small fraction of the price, so margins can be good.
• A realistic part-time range is perhaps $100–800 a month at the start, growing if one design becomes a repeat seller.

Risks and pitfalls

• Copyright: draw everything yourself; do not copy characters or brands. Keep your files dated.
• Quality: peeling or fading stickers bring bad reviews. Test paper, ink and waterproofing before selling.
• Crowded market: many people sell stickers. Choose a clear theme or audience and a consistent style.
• Shipping costs: postage can eat the margin on cheap items. Sell sets and set a minimum order.
• Time: packing takes longer than drawing. Batch orders on fixed days.