I started a side hustle from my kitchen at age 21 and now own a £280 million business – here’s how I did it
A WOMAN has revealed how she went from starting a side hustle in her kitchen at age 21, to owning a £280 million business.
Tara Bosch has always had a sweet tooth but realised when she got older the negative impacts that eating sweets has on your health.
Determined to find a way to satisfy her desire for sweet treats whilst still staying healthy, Tara, dropped out of university at 21 and began researching how to make healthy sweets.
She got a gummy bear mould from Amazon and bought some ingredients from her local supermarket, and began testing out low sugar sweet recipes from her kitchen table.
It took her four months to create her first recipe and she had to take out a loan of around £80,000 to allow her to make the first batch.
Speaking to Shelby Church on her YouTube channel, Tara said: “I knew if the business didn’t work that at that point I would have $105,000 debt to my name”.
She said that in the beginning, it was really hard for her to get supermarkets to stock her product, which she named SmartSweets.
Determined to not give up on her dream, she visited one supermarket 50 times, before they agreed to take on the product.
After her first year, the Vancouver based entrepreneur managed to get her sweets into 1300 shops, and hired 10 employees.
Her business began to grow and grow, and after a journalist reached out to her and asked to write an article about her business, she was contacted by Wholefoods, who said they were keen to stock her products in the US.
“That was really the catalyst for us growing and getting into more stores like Target and Costco“, she said.
Tara was able to get more investment for her company, by going on the Canadian version of Dragon’s Den.
Asked if she always knew that her business would become successful, she said: “When I was in my kitchen I started telling myself ‘SmartSweets is a global company, Smartsweets has revolutionised candy.
“This was really powerful because it put into my subconscious that this had already happened.”
After five years of building up the company, Tara sold a majority stake for £280 million.
She is still the largest individual shareholder, and still very much involved in the company.
How to start your own business
Dragon's Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of confidence. You must believe in your idea — even more than that, be the one boring your friends to death about it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, it’s the confidence to make decisions that 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 deal with it if you can. Failing that, find someone else who can.
- It’s OK not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions is what helped develop my confidence, making me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media, and remember the internet has levelled the playing field for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
The now 26-year-old said: “Growing up I also felt underestimated and didn’t really have any talents of abilities.
“When I stumbled on SmartSweets I didn’t want to squander that and gave it my all”.
Sharing advice to anyone thinking of starting their own business, she said: “If you don’t believe in your head that it’s possible, then it’s not possible.
“Take away what you think you are capable of, and just believe”.
Fabulous will pay for your exclusive stories. Just email: fabulousdigital@the-sun.co.uk and pop EXCLUSIVE in the subject line.