A woman has revealed how she dropped out of university to start her own online business.
And Olivia Crabtree has no regrets, as she's now making six figures.
At the age of 21, Olivia has achieved what most small business owners only dream of – turning over a whopping six figures in less than a year.
The brunette started her business on Etsy, with just enough money to make a single product.
The rest of her success, she says, came down to 'perseverance, hard-work and a little dose of know-how'.
Talking about her business journey, Olivia said: "I was a full-time student at the University of York, and I had no money! So I started an Etsy business selling handmade gifts aiming to earn £40 a week to pay for my food shop."
Within three months, Olivia was earning a full-time income from her Esty store.
She was shocked and excited by how fast everything was taking off, so she decided to work even harder.
After another successful month, Olivia decided to make the life-changing decision to drop out of university and pursue her Etsy store full-time.
However, things quickly took a down-turn for Olivia.
"I started my business with financial motivation in mind," she said.
"I didn’t have a real passion for it, so when I went full-time I lost my love for it."
While Olivia was feeling unhappy with running her Etsy store, she found something else within the process that she did fall in love with though – helping other people.
She said: "As it was so successful in such a short space of time, I was handing out advice and tips to other Etsy sellers, who were coming back to me saying that my help had massively increased their sales."
It was 11pm on a Friday night when Olivia spontaneously decided to set up a small business tips Instagram page to help business owners others out.
After around a month of sharing free tips, someone suggested she write an Etsy eBook – which she did.
In the 24 hours which came after launching the eBook Olivia has earned more than she ever had from any job.
This saw the creation of her business – The Small Business Handbook.
It didn’t take long for Olivia to see that her profits were steadily growing, so she took the huge leap to shut down her Etsy store.
Olivia admits she 'knew it was a risk' leaving an income that she knew would remain consistent.
However, she took the plunge and has seen even wider success than before.
She soon decided to expand her brand one more, and bring out a range of planners and journals, to help people plan, organise and find success for their businesses.
The ‘Dream, Plan, Do’ planner is one of The Small Business Handbook’s bestsellers, and covers all aspects of business planning – including target market definition, USPs, SEO and branding concepts.
Olivia also offers a range of masterclasses, which teach people all about business management, from generating sales to organising a social strategy.
She said her story goes to show that 'success can be found at any point in life', saying 'it just takes drive, passion and a little help from The Small Business Handbook!'
Shop the collection and find out more about the brand here
Get all the biggest Lifestyle news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free Daily Star Hot Topics newsletter
Source: Read Full Article