We started a side hustle from our living room – now we’ve made £1.2m in a year
TWO blokes started a side hustle from their living room – now they’ve made a whopping £1.2million in a year.
Harvey Singh and Ruhel Uddin, both 29, dreamed up a wearable, thick fleece blanket, which is equipped with a hood and large pocket.
They’ve named it the Ony, and in just one year have made £1.2m in sales.
The pair, who live in Newcastle, say they never expected to be bringing in anywhere near that much when they came up with the side hustle during lockdown.
But the Ony is now stocked by massive retailers, and is being snapped up by Brits trying to save money on heating during winter.
Harvey said: “It’s been a year and in terms of retailed sales across us and across our clients, including New Look, John Lewis and Next.
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“We’ve probably done £1.2million in consumer sales and there’s no way we would have expected that to happen within a year.”
He said in winter everyone loves sitting at home, wrapped up on the sofa, watching a Netflix series or movie.
Adding: “That’s always been a thing but this is just a new, more comfortable, way of doing it. I think that’s always going to be a reason why people want these.
“But also at the minute we have the energy crisis and we’re seeing so much feedback that these are a good way to avoid the energy increase that everyone is going to feel this winter.
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“I can partly vouch for that myself because I have one and I never have to put the heating on.
“It’s good to know that we’ve been able to provide an alternative solution to putting the heating on and paying extremely high prices, especially during the winter period.”
He added: “It’s satisfying to know that we’re providing a service almost with our product.”
The pair dreamed up their business during the Covid pandemic when Harvey started making facemasks.
His recruitment business had slowed down, so he perched on his sofa and started making the essential face coverings.
They went on to be sold by high street retailers.
There’s no way we would have expected that to happen within a year.
Harvey Singh
He quickly started working on another product, a hair scrub for use when shampooing hair.
The Ony didn’t come too much later – in September last year the entrepreneurial duo decided they wanted to create and sell the longest and thickest hooded blankets on the market, for a reasonable price.
Harvey and Ruhel have now managed to design and sell the Ony in a range of colours, for adults and children – while working full-time jobs.
Harvey was brought up in a working class family and wanted to build a business that will help support people in the North East.
The 29-year-old said: “We started in Newcastle and do everything in Newcastle, our stock is held and sent out of Newcastle, we work with Newcastle-based models for our shoots.
“Everything we do is in the region and we want to keep it there.”
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The pair’s comes not long after one TikTok user shared a seasonal side hustle trick could earn you thousands without even leaving the living room – but it will only work in winter.
And, a mum, who was sick of living pay check to pay check, also recently took to the app to reveal the side hustle she started to increase her income by five figures.
