Anish Vij
A 17-year-old has quit school after turning a £150 gift into a £15,000-a-month business in just two years.
Caelan McDonald opened 'the gift that keeps on giving' on Christmas Day by his proud mum Karen Newsham, 49, back in 2022.
The teenager from Lancaster, Lancashire, received a £150 Cricut Joy, which is essentially a digital drawing, cutting, and printing machine.
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It can be used to cut through a variety of materials, including vinyl, fabric, cardstock, and adhesive sheets.
Just 26cm in length, the small device is able to make cards, invitations, labels, but Caelan thought of something different he could do.
Instead of just making birthday cards, the then 15-year-old used his Cricut Joy to print transfers which he stuck on glassware and acrylic.
If you're thinking 'how on earth can you make money from doing that?' then you aren't the only one.
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Caelan's side hustle after school would involve printing the personalised transfers and sharing them on Facebook to get commission from each item sold.
At the start of 2024, Caelan impressively sold around 200 items a month, which lead him to quit school and invest £4,000 in a UV printer and then £30,000 in two more.
So since July, he's sold £74,000 worth of products on platforms like TikTok shop and is now on track to make £100,000 worth of sales by the end of the financial year.
His top seller for Christmas is a bauble featuring personalised angel wings.
Karen, who works in hospitality, said: "I'm incredibly proud of him, and so glad he's followed his own journey.
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"I worried and wanted him to stay in education, but he was very unhappy and spending hours travelling in the cold when he wanted to be working.
"By June he had a really clear idea of what he wanted to do so we took some advice and I thought it was worth letting him try.
"He's always been entrepreneurial. He's great at selling, and listening and responding to his customers, and knowing what's on trend.
"He's extremely hard working and he's certainly taught me a lot."
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"It's 100 percent the best Christmas present I ever got - it's the gift that keeps on giving," the teenager added.
"I never imagined it would get to this point.
"If you'd have told me last year that this would happen I'd have just laughed.
"It kind of started accidentally.
"In June I thought 'I'll just give it a try', and it's gone crazy.
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"Now I'm so busy I hardly ever stop.
"The last few months have gone so fast it feels like they've been about two seconds.
"I just invest everything back into the business, but it's nice to be able to update my phone or iPad when I want or need to."