Tampa couple turns passion into small business with home decor designs

TAMPA, Fla. - A husband and wife team scratched their creative itch by taking a chance on themselves; now they're balancing a small business with full-time jobs. 

Ryan and Jessica Sartor’s living room has been transformed into a workshop, as they went all-in into the small business world. 

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The couple runs Wise Old Owl Designs.

"It shortens to WOOD, so that’s perfect," Jessica Sartor said. 

The couple started their business five years ago, creating a variety of products, from small ornaments and sun catchers to charcuterie boards and wall art flags. 

Ryan Sartor dabbled in building furniture to start, while Jessica Sartor took painting classes. 

"It rabbit holed from there," Jessica Sartor said. "Next thing we know, we’re getting a laser."

The laser takes up the most space in the couple’s makeshift workshop. Ryan Sartor describes the laser as a robot that traces a design onto the material placed inside of it. 

"His thought process is typically go big or go home, and so it was all in with the laser, and then it's just gone from there," Jessica Sartor said. 

While the laser does some of the work, both Ryan and Jessica have work to do both before and after, whether that’s creating designs, painting, or putting together various layers. 

They estimate that they can make around 150 different products. The couple does all of this on top of full-time jobs. 

"After a 10-hour day or so, it can be tough to want to come home and put another 3–4 hours into making things, but that is also the most rewarding part as well," Ryan Sartor said. "We enjoy being creative and making things, and it's very rewarding at the end of the process to say, you know, I made this, this is cool, I like this."