‘Well, S***’ sign-maker and ‘native Cole Camp girl’ revitalizes rural downtown’s small business scene

Editor’s note: The following story was produced through a paid partnership with MOSourceLink, which boasts a mission to help entrepreneurs and small businesses across the state of Missouri grow and succeed by providing free, easy access to the help they need — when they need it.

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COLE CAMP, Missouri — What started as a side hustle to pay for daycare has turned into a profitable sign-making, home decor and apparel business for Ashley Raetz.

RiOak owner Ashley Raetz with her daughters and husband

The central Missouri entrepreneur started RiOak Design — named after her two daughters, Riley and Oaklee — 12 years ago at her kitchen table and has now grown the business to a full-time venture with five full-time and several part-time employees in a recently-renovated 3,500-square-foot building in downtown Cole Camp.

“I ended up painting some signs for extra money to pay for daycare with my second kid that I was pregnant with,” Raetz recalled, “and one thing, honestly, just led to another. I kept getting busier and busier, so after a couple of years, I quit my full-time job and pursued the business.”

Her business has evolved from just handmade wooden signs — like her bestseller “Well, shit” — to other home decor, apparel — from their in-house designer — and hats. In January, she noted, the company launched an interactive area of the store with a T-shirt press where customers can pick out a transfer  to press on a blank shirt of their choice and a laser cutter and engraver where customers can design a leather car air freshener with a fragrance of their choice.

“We make quite a bit of stuff,” she added.

RiOak Design owner Ashley Raetz is at her desk surrounded by her best-selling sign that reads “Well, shit.”

Raetz might be known for her cheeky handmade signs, but she is also doing her part to support other small business owners and reenergize her rural Missouri hometown.

Before she opened her brick-and-mortar shop three years ago, Raetz shared, she figured out how to grow her business quickly by selling her signs at craft fairs and on Etsy, Amazon and Facebook Live. This led to other makers reaching out to her for tips about how to have success in their own businesses. After trying to keep up with all the questions for a while, Raetz launched a business membership so she could coach other handmade vendors in marketing, online sales and other topics.

“The famous thing is to go to YouTube, and that’s what I had to do,” she explained. “So I just thought, ‘Well, if I can make the process a little bit easier for everybody to go through, it wouldn’t be so frustrating.’”

RiOak Design owner Ashley Raetz works at her desk on a Zoom call

RiOak owner Ashley Raetz holds one of her many patriotic signs.

“If you’re working at home as a handmade maker, it can be lonely,” Raetz said. “There’s a lot of sacrifices that go with it. A lot of people don’t truly get that. So to bring a community together of people that do, it’s pretty powerful.”

Eventually, she started to field more questions from fellow sign-makers, she says, so she launched the Creative Maker Movement and her Facebook page The Profitable Sign Maker to give painting tutorials and tips on reusable stencils, plus share industry trends for sign-makers.

“Our little motto inside of the Creative Maker Movement is community over competition because the maker world is very competitive,” Raetz said. “Everyone feels like you’re being copied and those kinds of things. So we’re just trying to help everybody out and bring people together.”

As memberships started growing for the sign-making group, she says, people started to ask about conferences. But because she was still working from home, finding a place she could afford to host one was nearly impossible. This spurred her to start looking for a building where she could have space for retail and events.

“I had always dreamed since we started off of having my own store,” Raetz added.

She and her husband — who works alongside her at RiOak — found the perfect space in downtown Cole Camp: the place they fell in love as high school sweethearts.

“It’s just a great little town with a lot of heritage and a lot of traditions,” she said.

After two years of renovations, Raetz noted, they have space for retail, sign making and shipping downstairs and event space upstairs in the loft.

“I was able to have my first conference last year,” she said. “I’m getting ready to have my fourth conference in July. And we’re also able to offer the loft to rent for weddings or graduations or other events.”

RiOak owner Ashley Raetz among fellow vendors at a recent festival

Raetz not only brings in people around the country for her conferences, but she also draws people into downtown Cole Camp with her events like the RiOak Fall Festival — which draws around 2,000 people and 50 handmade vendors.

“It definitely brings people to town,” said Jo Ann Lane, director of Benton County Economic Development, which helps business owners like Raetz with business plans and finding funding. “I can tell you their tax revenue has increased in the city of Cole Camp and that’s, I think, a direct driver to her. She’s always supporting the local businesses.”

Lane and economic development office supported Raetz as she got her brick and mortar up and running by helping with city regulations and phone and internet connection, plus providing a much-needed cup of coffee when she was on a deadline, Lane shared.

“She is a smart businesswoman,” Lane said. “She has so many pieces in place that it takes in a small town like this to make your business thrive.”

Amie Breshears of Missouri Extension, which helps support Benton County Economic Development, agreed Raetz’s current success is likely just the beginning for the entrepreneur and her many endeavors.

“She’s always adding something new and interesting, and how she makes it all happen, I don’t have any idea,” said Breshears. “And she’s not done. She’s got plans. She knows what to do and she gets it done. And that’s just really a neat story to see somebody who’s a native Cole Camp girl.”