Let’s celebrate our PiBurner of the week:

Jay Uzzalinno

owner at

Uzzi’s Creations

It’s an honor to introduce to you Jay Uzzalinno, or as he is known around Facebook circles, Jay Uzzi.

When anyone needs a Yeti cup engraved, they think of Jay first. How did he do it?!

Currently, Jay pumps out over 500 (FIVE HUNDRED) custom engraved Yeti cups per month on his Thunder Nova 24 and his trusty PiBurn. He has turned his side hustle into a thriving and quickly-growing business with serious revenue and growth worthy of envy.

And his story is full of little lessons we can all learn from.

About Jay

Jay grew up living with 6 people in a small house in a town called Jamesburg in New Jersey. It was very suburban, think farms and cornfields (Yes that actually exists in Jersey!) He worked on the farm and learned early on to be self-reliant, never shying away from hard work.

I never wanna be where I rely on anybody

He saw that people’s financial stability wasn’t always assured as many of his friends and neighbors went through difficult times.

More recently, he saw people close to him lose their jobs in connection with the pandemic and although he already had a secure job, he wanted a secondary income stream to build up his financial resilience, just in case.

Naturally, he started flipping stuff on eBay.

While everyone he knew was also hustling and trying different things, he saw an interesting niche.

He focused on Yeti. And since he loves jeeps, a lot of his initial designs looked something like this:

Or this

After all, Yeti is an excellent brand with a cult-like following and massive appeal – known for high-quality drinkware in a universe of cheap, low-quality alternatives.

Where do lasers come in? Serendipity has a role to play.

His buddy had a laser, a Boss, and Jay paid him 5$ per cup to engrave Jay’s designs on Yetis and then turned around and sold them on eBay.

Customers loved his unique designs. It didn’t take long for people to start asking for custom-designed Yeti cups and Jay pounced on the opportunity. And his followers just couldn’t get enough. He became the Yeti guy.

He knew he needed his own laser machine.

He went back in forth between Boss and Thunder and eventually went with Thunder Nova 24. The rotary that came with it was OK, but the time came and he contacted me for an upgrade.

Now a PiBurner, Jay is never looking back!

Here, Jay explains why he chose to upgrade to the PiBurn 3.0 and how it improved his capabilities and helped expand his business:

Jay’s Strategy and Tactics

The first “Viral” cup was “Merry Grinchmas”. He sold those cups like hot cakes – everyone went NUTS for this cup design during the holiday season. He knew he picked up on a trend.

As more and more people started talking about his work, he was introduced to and met with a lot of influential people in Yeti groups. And when someone needed a cup, his name always came up. He became the go-to guy for Yeti cups for more and more people.

A Growth Story

Over the next several months he had built a following and a brand, using his Facebook group to communicate directly with his customers. He doesn’t advertise anywhere else and does not keep an Etsy store. It’s all organic growth and word of mouth. Word spreads quickly and Jay keeps adding fuel to the fire by doing frequent giveaways and delighting customers with excellent quality.

As he kept hunting for unique Yeti cups around his local shops and kept buying more and more Yetis, he now boasts a very large collection of different styles and colors of Yeti cups. Here is just a small portion of his inventory:

And no, he is not a Yeti dealer, he bought all of these cups retail.

How come people love your work, Jay?

I’m a bit OCD and very particular about design. I am a perfectionist and it shows in my work.

What if you mess up a cup?

Messing up a few cups is part of the job. It’s a learning experience, as now you know what to do and what not to do. The PiBurn does help a lot with precision and consistency.

I never send a cup that doesn’t look perfect. You eat that cost and send them another perfect cup. The messed up ones use as practice or sell them at a huge discount.

If there is even a small issue, Jay sells them as a “misfit cup” at a huge discount.

Any advice for people starting in this business?

For those starting out: don’t be afraid to make mistakes, it won’t be perfect the first time. Instead of hiding them, SHOW your mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Show what you’re doing is not simple, there’s a chance to screw something up. I’m not perfect, I have some things I am working on, it’s a journey. And you’d be surprised just how many people care about your journey and want to join you.

Jay understands the value of sales and marketing. He regularly gives away a lot of cups. Once a month, he even gives away a Yeti cooler! Or something else really valuable and really cool.

When people ask his customers “Where did you get the cup from?” The answer is… Jay Uzzi.

Besides these tactics, there really is no secret formula, its all trial and error, late nights, as I work a full time job and this. There is no secret – it’s all just hard work. But I will say – know the trends. Follow the trends. For instance, besides the Grinch cup, there was a time when Bernie Sanders cups sold really well. The time he was a meme sitting there on a chair in a coat. That sold a lot of cups!