A Stroke Ended My Nursing Career — So I Built a Six-Figure Side Hustle From My Garage

If you'd asked me five years ago what I'd be doing for a living, I would have said nursing. That was the plan. That was the career I trained for, the identity I built my adult life around.

I never would have guessed that one of the best side hustles from home I'd ever find would start in my garage, with a laser cutter and a bunch of glitter acrylic.

My name is Eric Street. I'm 36, I live in Plainfield, Indiana — right outside Indianapolis — and I run Laser Craftworks, a handmade products business that I operate entirely from my two-car garage. My wife works alongside me, and our son just started making his own projects, too.

But the reason I'm here, doing this, isn't because I had some grand entrepreneurial vision. It's because my body made the decision for me.

When Nursing Ended Overnight

Up until 2021, I was a registered nurse. I loved the work. I loved taking care of people. And then I had a massive stroke in my brainstem.

Just like that, nursing was over.

I was stuck at home, bored, and honestly struggling. I needed something to do — not just to fill time, but because I'd read that people who picked up a creative hobby after a stroke actually had better recovery outcomes than those who didn't do anything.

So I started looking into laser cutters. I didn't know anything about them. I'd never thought of myself as a creative person — not once in my life. But I found xTool on YouTube, bought my first machine, and just started experimenting.

That decision changed the entire trajectory of my life.

A Badge for My Friends Became a Business

The first thing I made was for my nurse friends. I was missing them, missing the profession, and I wanted to stay connected. So I started making these little glitter acrylic badges — we call them "badge buddies" — that nurses clip underneath their credentials. Different colors, different titles. Just a small, fun way to personalize something they wear every day.

I gave a few away. Then people started asking: "Hey, my friend wants one." "My coworker wants one too." "You should really sell these."

So we put them on Etsy. And it just kind of exploded.

We've now sold over 7,000 items. Badge buddies are still our number-one product, but we've expanded into stethoscope tags, phone cases, keychains, badge reels, custom cups, and teacher accessories. If you're looking for side hustle ideas that can start small and scale fast, this is exactly how it works — you find one product that resonates, and you build outward from there.

Why the Margins Make This One of the Best Side Hustles

Here's what makes this business model so powerful.

Each badge buddy costs us less than a dollar to produce. We sell them for over thirteen dollars each. That's a profit margin above 1,200 percent.

The reason the cost is so low? I cut everything myself on my xTool laser engraver, and I've figured out how to use every inch of material — including the scrap. A single sheet of glitter acrylic runs me about twenty dollars, but I can get ten to twelve products from one sheet, each selling for close to the price of the sheet itself. So by the time I'm done cutting, I've paid for that sheet many times over.

Our largest single order came from a hospital system during Nurses' Week. They needed custom stethoscope tags for their entire nursing staff. That one order alone was worth thousands of dollars — and our material cost was almost nothing, because it was the same color and same font across every piece.

That kind of economics is what makes laser crafting one of the good side hustles that can genuinely replace a traditional income. You're not trading hours for dollars. You're building a product with almost no marginal cost.

A Family Business Built From the Garage

I can't take all the credit for this. My wife is a huge part of why the business works.

She's also a nurse — she still works weekends — but during the week, she's fully in the business with me. She's got this incredible eye for design. She knows what's going to look beautiful, what's going to sell, and how to style our products for listings. When Entrepreneur magazine featured our story this past June, I made sure to tell them: she deserves the credit for the creative direction.

And now our son is getting into it, too. I just bought him his first laser — the xTool M2 — and he made his very first project the other day. A Minecraft engraving. The look on his face was priceless.

Most families have game night or movie night. We have family crafting nights. We all sit in the garage, machines running, and we make things together. My wife says it best: these machines have turned us into a true crafting family. That closeness, that shared creative energy — it's honestly the greatest reward we could have asked for.

What My Workday Actually Looks Like

People hear "six-figure business from a garage" and they imagine I'm working around the clock. It's actually the opposite.

I don't have to wake up at a certain time. I don't answer to anyone. I set my own schedule completely. And the whole point of building this business was to be home with my three kids. I didn't want to go back to working for someone else in a different location. I wanted to be present.

The work itself is surprisingly efficient. I can produce a batch of badge buddies in a short session, and Etsy handles the storefront. I spend time on design, production, packing, and shipping — but I also spend a lot of time just experimenting, trying new products, learning new techniques. It doesn't feel like work in the traditional sense. When you're making things you're proud of, the hours don't drag.

I also became an xTool Demo Host, which means I have machines set up in my garage for people to come see in person. I run live demos — the F1 Ultra, the apparel printer, the P3, the F2 Ultra, UV printers — and my conversion rate is above seventy percent. When people see these machines running in real life, it's a done deal.

But what really sells it isn't the machines. It's that I'm a real person running a real shop, not an influencer. People see that I started this from nothing, and they realize: if he can do it, I can do it too.

Expanding Beyond Badges

Badge buddies are our bread and butter, but we've grown way beyond that.

On the apparel side, we do custom t-shirts, gang sheet printing, and event merchandise — mostly local business. The apparel printer is what brings in walk-in customers. People love the fast turnaround: they come to me instead of ordering online and waiting a week.

We also design teacher notes, bag tags, and custom products for specific niches. I've learned to target demographics that make sense — healthcare workers, teachers, first responders — because I understand those communities. I know what they want, what they'll pay for, and what makes a product feel personal.

If you're exploring side hustle jobs and wondering where to start, my advice is simple: pick a niche you understand, make one product that solves a real need, and let your customers tell you what to build next. That's exactly how we grew.

What xTool Really Gave Me

The money has been life-changing. I won't pretend it hasn't. Building a six-figure operation from my garage — that's something I never imagined.

But that's not really what this is about.

Before my stroke, I never thought of myself as creative. I watched people like me on YouTube and thought, It would be so nice to be where they're at. And now I'm here. People come to me for advice. I'm the one teaching others how to start.

What xTool really gave me is the ability to prove to myself that I can overcome an obstacle as big as a stroke in my brainstem and still thrive — as a parent, as a business owner, as a person. I discovered a part of myself I didn't know existed. I'm a maker now. That's a whole new identity.

My grandmother passed away recently, and we didn't have a good photo of just her — only group shots. Using xTool's AI software (Atomm), I was able to isolate her from an old family photo and print a beautiful standalone portrait. My mom called every one of her siblings, and they all wanted one. I ended up making seven or eight prints. It was the best picture any of us had of her.

That moment — using the same tools I use for my business to create something deeply personal for my family — that's the part that money can't buy.

What I'd Tell Anyone Looking for Side Hustles From Home

If you're looking for side hustles to make money from home, here's what I want you to know.

You don't have to be creative. I wasn't. I had never made anything in my life before I bought my first laser. The machines are intuitive enough that anyone can learn, and the communities — Reddit, Facebook groups, xTool's own maker community — are incredibly generous with knowledge and support.

Start with one product. Don't try to launch an entire store on day one. Find one thing that people want, make it well, and let the business grow from there. My entire six-figure operation started with a single badge design for my nurse friends.

Use your scrap. This is a real competitive advantage. When you can turn leftover material into sellable products, your margins go through the roof. Think about every inch of material as potential revenue.

Let your customers guide you. The badge buddies took off because my friends told me to sell them. The stethoscope tags happened because a hospital reached out. Listen to what people ask for — they'll tell you exactly what to build next.

It's a real business, not a get-rich-quick scheme. I work hard. I take my customers seriously. But the difference is, I'm working hard for myself, on my own terms, in my own garage, with my family beside me. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

I would never go back to nursing. I love what I do. I wouldn't give it up for the world.

It feels like xTool gave me my life back.

Eric Street is the owner of Laser Craftworks, a handmade products business based in Plainfield, Indiana. He creates all of his products using xTool machines from his home garage, alongside his wife and son. His story was featured in Entrepreneur magazine in 2025.