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​Wealth, Success. Trolls, Anxiety. The World Of A Teenage Millionaire

​Wealth, Success. Trolls, Anxiety. The World Of A Teenage Millionaire

"I was doing four or five deals a month when a bank manager called my parents and asked why £1,000s were going into a child account"

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Ben Towers was just 11 years old when he started a bedroom-based web design business - and, when class-mates at school found out, not all of them were very supportive.

"It led to a lot of comments," he remembers. "I wouldn't say it was bullying, exactly - not like some people get - but it was a constant stream of trying to put me down. They called me 'Business Ben' and stuff like that. There were a couple of times I went home and cried."

Ben, it's fair to say, has had the last laugh.

By the time he was only 14 that bedroom business had expanded so much that he took on his first member of staff. At 16, he had two offices - one in London and one in his home town of Gillingham. And now, aged 19, he has just overseen a seven-figure merger of the company.

It makes Ben one of the UK's youngest self-made millionaires - and a member of a very exclusive little club: one of the few people to reach that financial milestone while still in their teens.

Ben In a flash motor which he bought for himself.
Ben Towers

And - speaking to LADbible - he puts his success at least partially down to those bullies.

"I think they inspired me," says the baby-faced deal-maker who has since become an ambassador for the enterprise Bullies Out. "I wanted to prove them wrong."

Job done.

Ben, in many ways, comes across like your typical teenager.

He lives at home with his parents and kid sister, likes football and a good night out, and says his only extravagant outlay has been treating himself to an Audi S3 car, the occasional box at Chelsea FC and the odd VIP table in a nightclub.

"My dad is a designer and mum works for the NHS, and they make sure I keep my feet on the ground," he says. "I'm not a big spender. I'm not about to go off the rails."

Ben has been enjoying trips to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea FC.
Ben Towers

So, how did someone so like you and I turn himself into one of the Britain's youngest millionaires?

How did he come to be labelled "one of the UK's most influential entrepreneurs" by Sir Richard Branson and become an informal advisor to government ministers on youth entrepreneurship?

How did he get to a place where some of those bullies were asking to be his friend on social media? ("In my head, I think, p*** off," he says, "but I just ignore them.")

It's quite some story, as it goes.

Aged 11, he set up his business, called Towers Design, after being given £50 ($69) to build a website for a family friend.

Seeing a way to earn extra pocket money, he used a specialist app, PeoplePerHour, to find small firms - plumbers, taxis, solicitors - looking for freelance designers to build their websites. He applied to do the work without revealing his age, and many hired him. That's clever.

"Because it was all done online, most never knew how young I was," he says. "The only time there was a problem was when I took a phone call, and my squeaky voice gave me away. That put one client off."

Ben with his mates.
Ben Towers

He was commissioned so often he upped his price - £100 ($138), £200 ($276), finally £500 ($689) - and added social media marketing to his portfolio.

"I was doing four or five a month when a bank manager called my parents and asked why thousands of pounds were going into a child account every month," he recalls. "I had to explain it was all legitimate."

At 14, fearful he was neglecting school work, he took on a member of staff. And then, a couple of months later, he found himself having to fire her.

"She was in her 40s and, maybe because I was at school all day, she didn't take me seriously," he recalls. "She wasn't doing the work. I looked in her company email one day, and she'd been pitching for other jobs in the hours she was supposed to be working for me. I phoned her and let her go."

The company continued to grow anyway. Another staffer was hired. By the time he sat his GCSEs - at Rainham Mark Grammar School, where he got As, Bs and one C - he had eight full-time workers.

Belinda Collins, group managing director of Zest.
Ben Towers

By now revealing his age to potential clients, companies including Amazon and Pot Noodle became customers. Both were attracted by Ben's youth.

"It just kept building," Ben tells us. "There's no secret. I make quick decisions and stick to them, I don't let anyone down, and I brought in people who I knew would be good."

Then, last year, with the annual turnover passing seven figures - and with 26 staff - he agreed a merger with Kent marketing agency, Zest. After overseeing the transition, he left the company in September as a newly-minted millionaire and ready to take on new projects and make new investments.

It's not all been plain-sailing, he admits. He occasionally gets anxious new people might only be interested in his money.

"There are some people - male and female - who act nice to you, especially on nights out if you have a table in a club, and the girls obviously aren't unattractive," he says. "But it's pretty obvious if they don't want you for your personality."

And he adds: "You deal with it by surrounding yourself with real friends and family who love you for you."

This is one young man, it seems, who has a wise head on young shoulders.

Words and interview: Colin Drury

Featured Image Credit: Ben Towers

Topics: Inspirational, Community