Mom’s incredible response to her 17-year-old son who earns £15,000 a month from his Christmas present FR24 News English

A 17-year-old left school after turning a £150 gift into a £15,000-a-month business in just two years.

Caelan McDonald opened ‘the gift that keeps on giving’ on Christmas Day by his proud mum Karen Newsham, 49, in 2022.

The teenager from Lancaster, Lancashire, received a £150 Cricut Joy, which is essentially a digital drawing, cutting and printing machine.

It can be used to cut a variety of materials including vinyl, fabric, cardstock and adhesive sheets.

At just 26cm long, the small device is capable of creating cards, invitations and labels, but Caelan thought of something different it could do.

Instead of just creating birthday cards, the 15-year-old used his Cricut Joy to print transfers that he adhered to glassware and acrylics.

If you’re wondering “how the hell do you make money doing this?” » then you are not the only one.

Caelan’s side hustle after school was printing the personalized transfers and sharing them on Facebook to earn a commission on each item sold.

By the start of 2024, Caelan was impressively selling around 200 items a month, leading him to leave school and invest £4,000 in a UV printer, then £30,000 in two others.

So since July it has sold £74,000 worth of products on platforms like the TikTok store and is now on track to make £100,000 in sales by the end of the financial year.

Her best-seller for Christmas is a Christmas bauble with personalized angel wings.

Karen, who works in hospitality, said: “I’m incredibly proud of him and I’m so happy he followed his own path.

“I was worried and wanted him to continue his studies, but he was very unhappy and spent hours traveling in the cold when he wanted to work.

“In June he had a very clear idea of ​​what he wanted to do, so we followed some advice and I thought it was worth letting him try.

“He’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit. He’s good at selling, listening and responding to his customers, and knowing what’s in style.

“He works extremely hard and he’s definitely taught me a lot.”

“It’s 100% the best Christmas present I’ve ever received, it’s the gift that keeps on giving,” the teen added.

“I never imagined it would get to this point.

“If you had told me last year that this would happen, I would have just laughed.

“It started by chance.

“In June, I was like, ‘I’m just going to give it a try,’ and it got crazy.

“Now I’m so busy I almost never stop.

“The last few months have gone by so quickly it feels like they only lasted two seconds.

“I put everything back into the business, but it’s nice to be able to update my phone or iPad whenever I want or need to.”