‘I’LL KEEP GROWING MY VIDEO BRAND’

Aisha Ndayako, 21

studying international development and applied economics at Reading University

side hustle Founder of The Visual Book

turnover £10,000 since launching in June I’m one of those people who always takes videos – I rarely take photos. My friends are starting to get married and so, last year, I asked myself what I could get them as a gift that is not already out there? That’s how I came up with The Visual Book, a £129 linen-bound video album that looks like a coffee-table book (thevisualbook.com). I wanted it to be something people show to their friends and family, the same way they do with a photo album.

I’m a student and get a monthly allowance from my parents, but I was lucky enough to have £12,000 behind me from my family too. I didn’t know a lot about launching a product and didn’t strategise at first. I sent it to a few influencers – I even paid one £500 – but didn’t get any sales from posts. I decided to do the marketing myself, organising a photo shoot, posting pictures on Instagram and asking friends to repost. That’s when things picked up.

Since launching in June, I’ve made roughly £10,000 in sales. I get at least one order every day, but I’ve also had a few custom orders from companies who have requested different sizes, leather instead of linen covers or their logos printed on the product. I can earn up to £3,000 a time from custom sales.

I plan to keep growing. I need to take advantage before anyone tries to copy me. I’m very motivated and like the fact that I’m working on my dissertation and running this company – and I’m doing well at both.