Meet Crystal Aguila, owner of Riley Black Designs, Keychain Thingies, The Riley Black Project laser podcast, and Silhouette for Lasers course instructor.

I asked Crystal to tell us more about her life as a business owner!

I recently moved to Sebastian, Florida (10 minutes from my laser bestie, Heather Lynn!) with my husband John, and two young boys – JR (6), and Jaxson (2). We love spending time as a family – coloring, playing Uno, being silly and having fun!

Crystal has loved crafts and crafting her whole life. Art was always her favorite class in school and she jumped at any opportunity to be crafty. However, she never thought of it as a business – always only thought of crafting as just a hobby.

I loved doing it but I never thought I could make it a REAL job, not just a side hustle, but one that actually paid the bills!

Fast forward to when she was pregnant with her first son, Crystal knew she wanted to make him funny onesies, but didn’t want to pay the price tag that came with them! So, she bought a Silhouette Cameo and, before she knew it, she was making shirts for all of her friends and family! She soon realized that making shirts, while fun, was not her passion… something was missing… because she started to dread getting orders.

My husband and I were planning on a big move across the country to be closer to his family and I was leaving my job of 12 years in Oil and Gas accounting. I had just graduated with a degree in Finance, yet had ZERO desire to make that my profession. I WANTED TO MAKE SH*T! Haha. This was my chance. Once we got settled, I purchased a Glowforge and worked my butt off! We went from a dual income household to solely living off my husband’s income, which was below the state’s median income numbers, in expensive South Florida. We were broke.

After four years and many sleepless nights, failed projects, tears, second-guessing, and tons of self-doubt, Crystal can proudly say her business is as real as it can be… and profitable! Crystal has a successful Etsy store, website, online design course, and a laser podcast with her husband, John, called “The Riley Black Project” (which just passed 35k audio downloads last month)! With Crystal’s expanding business, her Glowforge just wasn’t keeping up, so she decided to upgrade to an Aeon Laser USA MIRA9 in 2020.

I upgraded to a MIRA9 three years ago and have more work/ideas than I can keep up with. My favorite thing to hear is “you made that?!” Huge thanks to my husband and AMAZING laser homies who knew I could do it, even when my brain told me I couldn’t. I literally would not be here without them!

Crystal’s customers are a mix of other laser owners, her friends & family, and word of mouth. Crystal and John’s podcast, Keychain Thingies® , and her online design course, Silhouette for Lasers, takes up most of her time, but when she’s not serving the laser community, she absolutely LOVE making tumblers, cake toppers, over-the-top baby milestone props, and keychains (of course)!

How did Crystal come across the LensDigital brand and decide to become a PiBurn user?

I found the PiBurn after hearing all of my close lasers friend RAVE about it! Tumblers were intimidating to me, especially on the cheaper roller style rotaries, but all I kept hearing was how easy the PiBurn was to use – and how FAST they were making money while doing it! I’m pretty sure Heather Lynn bullied me into finally taking the jump, and the rest is history. For future LensDigital purchases, I do have my eye on that Vortex Table – it’s so damn cool!

Crystal’s one piece of advice is to stay true to yourself. Yes, she loves to make signs and designs, but she also really loves to be extra, over-the-top, and make people laugh! She believes that if you love doing what you do, it will show in your work. As soon as she stopped chasing what she thought would sell and started to make the items she wanted to make, she found success.

My unlimited freedom to create and showing my boys they can do whatever they put their mind to is my biggest motivation. We all have the same 24 hours in a day, why not spend it doing something you love, for the ones you love.

Looking for products and/or designs that are “Made with Love & a Little Sass”?

Check out the Keychain Thingies® website, subscribe to her social channels, and tune in to The Riley Black Project weekly, wherever you listen to your podcasts!

Riley Black Designs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rileyblackdesigns

Riley Black Designs TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rileyblack41

Silhouette for Lasers FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/silhouetteforlasers

Silhouette for Lasers Online Course: https://www.silhouetteforlasers.com

The Riley Black Project Community FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/therileyblackproject

The Riley Black Project Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therileyblackproject

The Riley Black Project YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RileyBlackDesigns