I’m only 17 but I earn £320,000 working part-time from my loft
A 17-YEAR-OLD has revealed she earns a whopping £320,000 a year from her part-time job.
Bella Lin always knew she wanted to be self-employed and has been running her own businesses since primary school.
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As a young child, she had a knitting business, a slime business, and even a lemonade stand.
Bella has always had guinea pigs and started building her own cages for them when she experienced problems with the cages available in stores.
First she made cages from crates and stones, then she drew her ideal cage in a notebook.
Bella’s father, a computer programmer, put her in touch with a factory in China through one of his customers. Together with the factory, she worked on a prototype of her ideal cage.
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After about a year, she had perfected the cage and, using money she had saved from birthdays and Christmases, she launched her business, GuineaLoft, on Amazon.
Bella wasn’t sure if her product would be a success, but after just two weeks her first 100 units were sold out.
“When I saw that the first 100 copies were sold out on Amazon, I knew I had to go all out,” she said.
Bella now employs a team of six people who help her with the production, product testing and product photography of the various guinea pig cages and accessories that she sells.
The company has now also expanded to include products for rabbits and hamsters.
In 2023, GuineaLoft earned £320,000, but she has decided not to pay herself a share of the earnings as she currently lives with her parents who can look after her.
She aims to achieve a turnover of £1 million in the US. next one two years.
Bella said it was difficult to combine her business with her studies, as she worked 20 to 25 hours a week at GuineaLoft in addition to her studies.
She has now enrolled in university and will continue to run her business while she completes her degree.
How to start your own business?
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers that aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of self-confidence. You have to believe in your idea — and more than that, be the one to bore your friends to death with it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, the confidence to make decisions is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and act on it if you can. If you can’t, find someone else who can.
- It’s okay not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions has helped build my confidence and made me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media and remember that the internet is an equal opportunity for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
Bella said that her parents don’t really help her with the business, but they have always been very supportive.
She said: “I think it’s really easy for a lot of parents to shut their kids off when they’re young and show interest in startups with something trivial.
“My father always treated me like an adult. He never made fun of my passions.
“I’m glad he never waved that away, because look where we are now with the piglets.”
Bella plans to expand her business in the coming years to serve even more small pets, and she also plans to sell her own pet food.
She added: “Opening a physical store is a big dream of mine.
“My ultimate goal for GuineaLoft is to become the recognized brand for small pets.”
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