The increasing digital age has made people experiment with new ways of making money. Among the youth, money-making through digital marketing and content creation has been booming. An example can be seen in the 17-year-old UK native Caelan McDonald, who runs a thriving business selling personalized stickers; he earns an astonishing $19,000 (around Rs 16 lakh) each month.
Caelan’s journey started two years ago when his mother, Karen Newsham, gave him a $191.37 (approximately Rs 16,000) Cricut Joy, a digital machine that is used for drawing, cutting, and printing. He began with printing transfers on glassware and acrylic, which he put up on Facebook. His products were very creative and started to receive attention, leading to acceptance of custom orders. By early 2024, Caelan was making approximately 200 personalized items a month working three hours a day after school from home.
After dropping out of school, Caelan invested in industrial printers, which permitted him to scale his business a bit further. He stated that since July, the sales on TikTok Shop, along with other online channels, have been around $94,410.31 (approximately Rs 79 lakh). On that, he reflected on it as “100 per cent the best Christmas present I ever got – it’s the gift that keeps on giving.“I never thought it would come to this. If you had told me last year that this would happen, I would have just laughed. It kind of started by accident. In June I thought, ‘I’ll just give it a try,’ and it’s gone crazy. Now I’m so busy I hardly ever stop.
Caelan’s biggest seller this Christmas is a personalized bauble with angel wings, while last year it was snow globe tumblers. Despite working 16-hour days, six days a week, he still reinvests his earnings in the business. “The last few months have gone so fast it feels like they’ve been about two seconds.”. I just re-invest everything back into the business, but it’s nice to be able to update my phone or iPad when I want or need to,” he added. Caelan believes he is on track to reach Rs 1 crore in sales by the end of the fiscal year.
