‘I became a millionaire after quitting my pharmacist job to make towels’

Sep 08, 2023 at 3:45 AM
‘I became a millionaire after quitting my pharmacist job to make towels’

One mother has quit her job as a pharmacist and become a millionaire in the process thanks to her unique side hustle.

Kalinda Salla, 28, from Brisbane, Australia, left the role to make personalised beach towels instead and has generated over $1milllion (£801,710).

Alongside her business partner Joel Miranda, 24, she chose to make colourful gym towels after getting bored in her main job.

In March 2022, Ms Salla was able to quit her pharmacist role to work full-time due to the success of her side hustle.

With her business partner, she has been able to earn $1million AUD (£511,595) since launching the enterprise in March 2021.

The couple will print anything a customer requests onto a personalised towel and the business is named Cheeky Winx.

Ms Salla explained: “Joel and I noticed the towels we were using were boring and printed our own funky ones.

“The members of the gym wanted them so we thought ‘Let’s do this.’ We made 800 towels and bought them out inside three months.

“I didn’t anticipate it to explode. It’s turned our lives round. We do get loads of impolite requests for personalisation. But the unusual requests make us giggle.”

She additionally mother and father her six-year-old son Louis which proved to be difficult whereas working as a pharmacist.

The stress of her former job significantly hit in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic the place she was vaccinating round 100 folks and not using a break.

After assembly Joel on a run, the duo realised they beloved spending time collectively which helped them get into enterprise with one another.

When understanding, they seen there was an absence of enjoyable and attention-grabbing towels which led them to type the enterprise they’ve at present.

The businesswoman added: “I thought it would just be a side hustle. I’m glad I’m out of the pharmacy. It’s so much better now.

“I work more hours and it can be a lot more stressful but I can do it on my own time. It means I can pick up and drop my son off at school.”

“It’s exciting growing a business together. We do get quite a lot of weird and rude requests.

“We get a lot of swear words and someone wanted ‘wee wee’ and ‘poo poo’ on a towel. It’s funny. It always makes us giggle.”