I was so broke I lived in a tipi with no plumbing or electric – now I make £13k a MONTH & never set foot in an office
A WOMAN who used to live in a tipi with no plumbing or electricity shares how she became the founder of a £1m tech business – earning up to £13,000 a month.
Star Khechara spent around a decade completely off the grid, loving life as a free spirit and admittedly more afraid of the internet than tech savvy.
But the 48-year-old grew tired of having no money and after a crash course in computers, she quickly shot to the top.
“I had spent so long off-grid that I was totally out of the loop when computers and the internet became a thing,” Star, who lives in Brighton, told What’s The Jam.
“I literally thought it was like Skynet from the Terminator movies.
“My life was fun but I was starting to get bored of always being broke.
“I pitched a book synopsis to a publisher who then published my first book ‘The Holistic Beauty Book’, which set me on my path to being an actual businesswoman.”
However, Star needed the internet to build her first online business.
“I had to give myself a crash course in how to use computers,” she explained.
“I had to learn how to build a basic website, how to film and edit video tutorials and build PDFs.
“My first ever business was a skincare formulation school and it took off immediately.
“It was so weird to have been below the poverty line for so long to then suddenly make thousands.”
Star described the quick change-up as feeling “surreal at first.”
She said she discovered her passion for living as a free spirit when she was 19 and had dreams of living abroad.
The entrepreneur first went to Spain after friends told her about a place in the mountains where people lived “wild and free.”
She stayed just outside of a town called Orgiva for three months, living off of just £250 during that time.
“At first I lived in my tent but after a while people got to know me and I was offered a tipi to stay in,” she said.
Side hustles in numbers
Based on new research from Finder, an estimated 22.8 million Brits are using side hustles to top up their income.
Among those aged 18-23, 68 percent have a side hustle in 2024.
Those aged 24-42 aren’t far behind, with 65 per cent having an additional source of income.
Side hustles are less popular among older generations, with 40 percent of those aged 43-54 having one.
Whereas 23 percent of people aged 55-73 and just 7 per cent of those aged 74 and over are earning extra cash this way.
“Because it was a community and we all shared the food, my £250 lasted me for three months.
“It was an amazing three months and my first taste of living wild.
“We had no plumbing, no electricity – just the stars and fresh mountain water.
“I ran out of money doing the tipi life as this was prior to the internet and there wasn’t remote work or anything like that.”
Star came back to the UK and enrolled in art college to do a degree in applied arts.
“In my second year of college I realised that so much of my student money went on rent and I’d either have to get a job or find a different way to live,” she recalled.
“I found a couple who lived in a caravan in the countryside and they had a spare one to rent for £20 a week.
“I moved there and ended up staying there after I graduated.”
By her late 20s, Star made the transition to city life and met the man that she ended up marrying.
But while studying nutritional medicine, she was able to persuade her now ex-husband to move into a caravan so they could save money to travel once again.
It’s so peaceful amongst nature, with firelight chats and reading by candlelight.
Star Khechara
They spent a few months renovating their caravan into a tiny eco-friendly home where they lived for a year.
After that, they built their next project, a converted mini-bus, so that they could move to Spain.
After a short time, Star and her ex-husband moved back to the UK, as he wanted to train as a woodsman.
She began to put on workshops at festivals teaching natural skincare making, where her passion for the subject grew.
“It was a great life, very simple and basic, I still miss it at times,” she said.
“It’s so peaceful amongst nature, with firelight chats and reading by candlelight.”
Star moved to a static home – a cabin in the woods – where she launched her first business.
And six years on from launching her first online business, Skin Nutrition Institute was born in 2017.
The company is the only school in the world to provide practitioner-level accredited training in various aspects of skin, hair, and nail nutrition.
Star currently lives in a high-end apartment in a gated building and while her monthly salary varies, she sometimes makes up to £13,000 per month.
My monthly rent costs more than my entire caravan and van put together.
Star Khechara
“My monthly rent costs more than my entire caravan and van put together,” she said.
“I love my home but I am a free spirit so I am constantly at war with myself over whether to stay put to keep growing my business or to take off around central America.
“Technically these days I can do both but I’d be living out of a suitcase and I’d have to leave 99% of my possessions behind.
“I definitely want a life filled with adventure and I rent for that reason.
“It means I’m not tied down and with just two months notice I can be on the other side of the world.”
Star feels as though van life is now more expensive due to it becoming more of a trend.
She says that with the popularity of the internet, building an online income is so easy and a great option for those looking to fund their own adventures.
“Building online income these days has never been easier,” she explained.
“Van life has unfortunately gotten expensive since I did it as it’s trendy so even old vans are pricey now.
“It’s sad because it was super affordable back in the 90s and early 2000s but there are plenty of people online showcasing how to do it.
“Just because the majority of people are stuck in the nine to five rent or mortgage trap doesn’t mean you have to be if it repels you.
“I’ve run my business from a van in the mountains of Spain, from a private beach in Thailand and from the hot springs in the Californian desert.
“Be wild and be free while you still can, you’ll never regret doing the crazy things in life.”