He Started a Holiday Light Hanging Gig — Now He Makes $800K/Year

It started with a Reddit post. And a ladder.

In 2020, Steve Hunsaker was working in tech sales when he stumbled across a post about making extra money hanging Christmas lights.

With no crew, no truck, and zero experience, he gave it a shot.

That first season brought in $35,000. Today, his company — Valley Christmas Lights — earns more than $800,000 in just two months.

Here’s how Steve scaled a scrappy side hustle into a wildly profitable seasonal business — and what his journey can teach you if you’re thinking about lighting up your own.

From Tech Sales to Tinsel — The First Season

Steve didn’t set out to build a lighting empire. He was just burned out from tech sales and looking for something different. During the height of the pandemic, a Reddit thread about holiday light installs caught his eye — and something clicked.

“I ordered some basic gear, watched a ton of YouTube videos, and started knocking on doors around my Scottsdale neighborhood,” he said. “No customer relationship management (CRM), no real plan — just me, a ladder, and my Ford Fusion.”

That first year was all hustle.

He quoted jobs on the fly, priced everything by gut feel, and learned through trial and error. But one thing kept him going: every time a homeowner flipped the switch and smiled, he felt like he was onto something.

By the end of that first season, Steve had brought in over $30,000. “At the time, it felt like an insane win,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to turn into anything long-term. But looking back, that season laid the foundation for everything.”

Yard Signs, Word of Mouth, and a System That Scaled

In the early days, Steve didn’t have a marketing budget — just a ladder, a hustle mindset, and a few smart bets that paid off. Free or super low-cost marketing tactics would have to get the job done. 

“Yard signs were my MVP,” he said. “I left one at every completed job, and made sure it had a clear call to action.”

That alone sparked dozens of conversations — especially in tight-knit Scottsdale neighborhoods where curb appeal gets noticed. Neighbors walking by would stop and ask questions. Some even snapped photos of the sign to send to their spouse or HOA group chat.

Steve also leaned hard into referrals, but with a twist: he gave happy customers physical gift cards they could hand to friends and neighbors. Each card had a unique tracking code so he could trace who referred whom. “When people have something tangible to give, they actually do it,” he said. “It’s way more effective than asking for shares or tags.”

Even now, those scrappy, hyperlocal tactics outperform paid ads.

“We still run Facebook campaigns and retarget potential customers,” Steve said, “but signs and word of mouth move faster than algorithms. Especially when people can see your work right next door.”

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What Steve Did Differently to Go From $35K to $100K

By Steve’s second season, word was spreading — but so were the growing pains. 

“I was getting more leads, but I couldn’t keep track of anything,” he said. “Quotes were getting buried in texts. Payments were manual. It was a mess.”

That’s when he started investing in systems. He onboarded Jobber to handle quotes, appointments, and payments in one place — and built a simple pricing template based on linear footage and roof type. “It saved me hours of back-and-forth,” Steve said. “And it helped me stop underpricing jobs.”

He also reworked his setup process to reduce mistakes. Every bin was labeled. Tools were packed in the same order every time. His ladder and gear lived in a fixed loadout so nothing got left behind.

That structure paid off. In year two, with a small team and those new systems in place, Steve cleared just over $100,000 in a two-month stretch — nearly triple his first-year total.

“The installs were better, the days were smoother, and I could actually think about growth,” he said.

How Personal Loss Nearly Derailed the Business

By year three, Steve’s seasonal hustle had momentum — but everything nearly fell apart.

“The day our install season kicked off, I lost my older brother,” he said. “I stepped away from the business to be with family, and things went off the rails.”

While Steve was gone, the person he left in charge couldn’t keep up. Installs were delayed. Clients were frustrated. When Steve came back, it felt like everything was on fire.

To fix it, he leaned on the only person who hadn’t quit: a new team member who’s now his business partner. Together, they pulled 18-hour days for weeks — redoing jobs, repairing client relationships, and rebuilding trust one house at a time.

“We were inches away from selling my car just to make payroll,” Steve said. “But we made it through.”

That season — the hardest of his life — was also the one that convinced him this wasn’t just a side hustle anymore. It was something worth building. Something that could last.

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What $800K in 60 Days Actually Looks Like

Today, Steve’s two-month lighting season is a far cry from his solo Ford Fusion days.

During peak, three or more install crews hit the streets daily — each with a trained lead, several team members (many from local colleges), and a truck fully stocked with commercial-grade materials, backup parts, and safety gear. Every job follows strict SOPs, from client walkthroughs to final cleanup.

But it’s not just the crews that make it work. It’s the systems behind them.

“We start running Facebook ads and retargeting campaigns in late September,” Steve said. “That warms up the market. But it’s our early bird promos — SMS and email blasts to past clients — that book out our calendar fast.”

All leads flow through a central CRM, with SnipyLead automating quote follow-ups, lead routing, and client nurturing. That speed-to-response has been key: the faster his team replies, the more jobs they close.

Just as important is team culture. Most of his crew is seasonal — but they’re paid well, trained thoroughly, and treated like pros. “We run a tight ship,” Steve said. “But we also make it a place people want to come back to.”

Not every growth move worked, though. In one early season, Steve tried outsourcing installs to a subcontractor — and quickly regretted it. “We had to redo a bunch of jobs due to quality issues,” he said. “Now, everyone’s trained in-house. No exceptions.”

It all adds up to something that looks effortless from the outside. But behind the scenes, it’s an operation built on timing, tech, and trust.

Steve’s Advice for First-Time Installers

Steve’s biggest wins didn’t come from being the cheapest — they came from being the most reliable.

“If you respond first, quote clearly, and show up on time, you’re already ahead of most people,” he said.

For anyone thinking about launching their own seasonal lighting side hustle, Steve offered a few simple — but powerful — principles:

• Start small. Focus on 1–2 zip codes, especially early on. “You’ll move faster and build word of mouth way easier,” he said.
• Price for profit. Don’t try to win on being the cheapest. “It’s a race to the bottom — and most customers are happy to pay for quality.”
• Systemize early. Even basic tools like a pricing sheet, install checklist, or shared calendar can save hours of back-and-forth.
• Ask for social proof. Get a review and photo from every client. “It’s the most valuable asset you can collect in year one.”
• Reinvest. Before you take a big payday, put money back into better tools, sharper branding, and smoother workflows.

“You don’t need a crew or a trailer to get started,” Steve said. “You just need to deliver a pro experience — even if it’s just you and a ladder.”

Beyond the Holidays — What Steve’s Building Now

Valley Christmas Lights was just the beginning.

After proving the model with seasonal installs, Steve launched Valley Premier Lighting, a sister company that focuses on permanent lighting solutions — the kind that stay up year-round for accent lighting, security, or color-controlled holiday displays. That business now runs in tandem with his seasonal operation and is scaling fast.

He also started Home Service Accelerator, a program to help other home service entrepreneurs systemize and grow their businesses using the exact playbook that took him from solo side hustle to $800K seasons.

But for Steve, it’s not just about lights anymore.

“I love seeing people take control of their future,” he said. “Whether it’s hanging lights or pressure washing or any home service — if you’re willing to work, there’s no reason you can’t build something you’re proud of.”

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