Meet Lisha Lupher: Owner of Sign Chick Yard Sign Rentals

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lisha Lupher and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisha, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Six years ago, I was “gifted” a stork when we welcomed our third baby. It was such a special surprise to drive home from the hospital and see the stork and sibling stars in our yard. Less than two years later, I received a phone call that the Cypress area was going to be opening up for storks because the original owner of Sign Chick was ready to sell her company. Our storks are trademarked and the owner of the trademark won’t sell her products to anyone within 21 miles of an existing partner. Since Cypress already had a stork partner, the only way I could become a partner was by buying an existing company. I jumped at the opportunity to buy Sign Chick from it’s original owner and on August 3, 2016 – I officially became a small business owner. I knew there was so much value in having a unique product. With the benefit of the trademark, I am the only stork partner in the Cypress/Tomball area. Over the years, we have added birthday signs to our growing stork inventory. In February of 2020, we added the lawn letters to our inventory. It had always been my goal to add the letters so that Sign Chick covered all types of celebrations, from babies to birthdays to graduation and retirement. It was very fortunate for us that we added the letters before the world shut down. People still wanted to celebrate while being in quarantine and we were able to help them celebrate by still being socially distant. We are now experiencing a boom in stork orders!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Sign Chick is a yard sign rental company in Cypress, Texas. We rent storks for new babies as well as yard greetings for any occasion. While there are a lot of yard sign companies in the Cypress area, Sign Chick is the only company that offers the stork signs. Our storks are trademarked and I am the only one in Cypress/Tomball that owns them. There are several other stork companies in and around Houston, but we are all over 20 miles from each other so we have a slightly “protected” area. Some of our yard signs are unique to Sign Chick. I have a cow sign that has been rented by some pretty notable clients. Seeing big names come across my email never gets old! When I bought Sign Chick, we had just moved into a new house and I was busy with three young children. My children were 7, 3 and 2 when I took ownership. The two younger children have never really known a life without Sign Chick. While it is definitely not easy, being able to be relatively flexible during the day to be with my kids has been a huge blessing. However, there have been the fair share of time management issues. Three kids and owning your own company is just time consuming. I’m taking sign orders at baseball and softball games and putting off going over homework to send out invoices or load my car with signs for deliveries. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in the last 4.5 years is that time management is key. Sometimes I do really really good at it and other times, I fail. But, there will always be a next day and another chance for improvement. Sign Chick is such a cool little company. We get to help celebrate some of life’s biggest moments. I put a sign out the other night for a young man that signed his letter of intent to play football in college. I’ve put storks out for babies that the parents never thought they would get a chance to have. I celebrated the last round of chemo for one little super hero. Lately, we’ve been celebrating people coming home from the hospital after battling COVID. It’s such a cool company to own and get to be a small part of our clients lives.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Being out in Cypress, we have a lot of great little hidden gems. We absolutely love Nyam Nyam cafe for it’s amazing crepes. Local Table in Bridgeland is another favorite of ours. We love going to Pappa Charlie’s/ The Hideout and eating outside while listening to live music. I still think the best barbecue is from Carl’s BBQ on 290. The Houston Museum is another favorite place for us to go. We usually park close to the McGovern Centennial Gardens and walk through the gardens on our way to the museum. Before my kiddos were in school full time, we were at the Houston Zoo at least once a week. Now, it’s a special treat to get to go and walk around the zoo and make a day of it. Our current lifestyle revolves around the softball and baseball complex in our neighborhood! Having a sports association within our neighborhood has allowed our kids to play sports that they may have never has access to. I played golf growing up so the thought of playing basketball or soccer never crossed my mind. Now, because of our neighborhood sports association, our children get a chance to play on teams with their classmates and friends. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would not have even known about the storks if it hadn’t been for a friend who owned Sassy Storks in Sugarland. She sold Sassy Storks a few months after I bought Sign Chick, but because of her, my best friend in League City, Shannon, started her own sign company, Sweet Southern Storks and More. My sister in law, Melanie, started her stork and yard sign company several months after I bought Sign Chick. She owns One Sign Day based in Spring Branch/Memorial. Shannon, Melanie and myself throw ideas around all the time. It’s nice to have friends in the same industry so we can come to each others rescue or just vent about crazy things that are happening. I also have to give credit to my super supportive husband. My job is 24/7. I never get to turn it off. I deliver stork signs during the day and birthday and celebration signs at night. My husband gets home from work and my “work” night begins. He keeps everything going smoothly at home so I can go out and bring joy to my clients. The best part about delivering birthday signs at night are the surprises they bring in the morning! God absolutely blessed us 4.5 years ago with the phone call that Sign Chick was for sale!

Website: www.signchick.com

Instagram: @signchickcypress

Facebook: @signchickcypress

Image Credits
Photo cred: @thebabychick