Life and Work with Lindsay Reuter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Reuter.

Hi Lindsay, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I love making things. It’s always been a passion of mine, but for most of my life, I didn’t consider myself to be artistic. Many years into an IT career, I found a way to leverage my technical skillset to unleash my creativity and everything grew from that. In 2021, I got a CO2 laser and that tool allowed me to take all the ideas living in my head and bring them into the real world. My favorite projects are always those where I am able to infuse a little piece of myself or my slightly inappropriate sense of humor into. As I began to make more of these types of products I also slowly found a community of people who shared my same sense of humor and I began to dream of the day that LNZ Custom Design could be more than just a hobby. In April of 2022, I took a huge leap of faith into this business, leaving my 15+ year IT career behind. Since then, I have widened our product offerings adding a monthly earring subscription, a 3D print farm, and many more things that will be coming in the future. It isn’t easy and I have never worked harder, but I am finally pursuing my passion and happier than ever.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Ha! Nothing great ever comes easy and starting a business is HARD! There are endless to-do lists and limited hours in each day, I am in a permanent state of feeling behind or like I am forgetting something important. But, I think the two hardest adjustments have been trying to find balance in my days, I’m not forced into an 8-5 schedule anymore so I tend to work 24/7 because there is just so much to do, but that also isn’t fair to my husband, kids or fur-babies. I try to take time off for fun things but then sometimes find myself feeling guilty that I’m not working to grow the business when I should be enjoying the time off. Secondly, if I’m honest the financial change of leaving a good-paying, salaried career for the ups and downs of being a small business owner hasn’t always been a smooth transition.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I make jewelry, decor & gifts primarily with a CO2 laser and 3D printer. But what sets LNZ Custom Design apart from others is the sass, attitude, & humor infused into each of our products. Our most viral and popular products have been our jar or “F*cks to Give”, inappropriate earring subscription club, and Tyrannosaurus Rex Toilet Paper Holder. As much as I love making all of those, however, the ones that I am most proud of are the one-of-a-kind abstract art and 3D models that I’ve designed.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I believe some of the greatest rewards come from taking the great risks. As a wife and mother of two young children, the idea of changing our family’s income is always a big deal. I effectively cut our guaranteed earnings in half, leaving an established career to start a small business built around curse words and funny gifts. It was probably one of the biggest risks I could have taken. But, I am a cautious risk taker and do my best to ensure that they are calculated risks. My husband and I did our due diligence making this choice, reviewing our family budget, looking at the pros & cons, and making sure we had a backup plan and a backup to that backup plan. He believes in this business as much or more than I do, so we went into the risk-taking with our eyes wide open.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.LNZCustomDesign.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/lnzcustomdesign
• Facebook: Facebook.com/lnzcustomdesign
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTLNkKqwqB4zwdKASUS-_zA
• Other: TikTok.com/@lnzcustomdesign; https://pin.it/3RoPhFz