‘Transformei a venda de bagagens do meu carro em um negócio mensal de £ 50.000’

A 22-year-old who went from working as a minimum wage gunsmith to earning £50,000 a month selling favourite trainers said it was “not enough” and he was “not satisfied”.

Buckinghamshire-based business owner Jack Long began his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 12, selling unwanted family items on eBay as a 'plan' to eventually launch his own business.

After completing your training in 2021, you will work as a shipment selector, responsible for finding and packing warehouse items for shipment, saving money for future business.

In March 2023, he found a pair of Nike Air Force sneakers on sale, bought them for £15 and sold them for the price, which made him realize he could turn this into a profitable business.

In April 2023, he was making nearly £5,000 a month sporting a ponytail in a gun and launched his beloved tennis company, Recycled Streetwear.

Initially, Jack was selling around 30 pairs of shoes a month, but since joining Tilt, a real-time shopping app, Jack now sells around 1,500 pairs a month, making £50,000 in money, most of which he spends on non-business.

Jack says he works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, sourcing, cleaning and documenting shoes, while live streaming the sale of shoes available for purchase at night, and hopes to become the leading brand in the ready-to-wear shoe market.

“£50,000 isn't enough, that's how I feel,” Jack told PA Real Life.

“I'm not really satisfied with anything.”

“I've been through so many bad times that I've invested most of the things I don't negotiate.”

Jack has always been an entrepreneur. At the age of twelve, he was selling unwanted items from his family members on eBay for a profit.

“There were random books, clothes, shoes, one or two a month,” she said.

“Only £5 at that time was a lot.”

“Since I was very young, I was always buying and selling things, and then I did something like this, and eventually my own business was stable.”

After leaving his position in 2021, Jack works as a team selector, earning minimum wage, with the goal of saving enough money to open a business.

In March 2023, you finally had your eureka moment after seeing a pair of Nike Air Force sneakers on clearance sale.

“I was helping a family friend and we saw a pair of sneakers and it pretty much started from that day on,” Jack added.

“I've been sorted out of here.”

“I paid £15 for it and sold it for £30, and from then on I thought: ‘I can definitely do something with this’.”

In April 2023, after reaching its £5,000 target, Recycled Streetwear officially launched, operating out of a business unit in Buckinghamshire.

“He was confident about it, but there were mixed opinions (from my family) about whether he should go or try to do it,” Jack explained.

“It was obviously worth it, but there was definitely some tension.”

Every day, Jack gets his stock from suppliers, carefully cleaning each pair and checking its authenticity.

The message reads: “You don’t know where we buy from you, but we have several suppliers, so we basically put you in and do a complete cleaning of all of them, during which the shoes will be untied, disinfected, cleaned, and finally “prepare yourself before leaving for the live broadcast.”

“We use an app called CheckCheck, which basically checks the authenticity of any shoe.”

The business got off to a slow start, initially selling about 30 pairs of sneakers a month through his website and Tik Tok Move to the neighborhoods.

However, things unravel when he starts using the Tilt app, where he now streams live about six nights a week, for three hours at a time, selling shoes for between £10 and £60, depending on their condition.

“Tilt gives us a platform to grow very quickly from where we are now,” Jack explained.

“Instead of people having to go to stores, they can actually make it easier to know where they are, just by having a phone and being able to connect to Wi-Fi to participate in the broadcast.”

“Then we send everything out, and we get it within two days, which is much cheaper.”

On average, Jack sells around 1,500 pairs of trainers a month, generating around £50,000 in sales, most of which he invests in non-business, as well as receiving a salary he does not wish to disclose.

Since launching Recycled Streetwear, we have been extremely busy, often working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to meet demand.

“I would say that nothing has changed personally since I started or did the work. I am much busier and more constantly working,” Jack explained.

“Ayanda, we’re not ready to finish or where we want to be, so we don’t have time to relax.”

No wait, same thing works, but currently he has several admins on test shifts, because he hopes to hire new people to help with the live broadcast.

Looking to the future, Jack hopes his business will continue to grow while making an even more positive impact on the environment.

“I just want it to continue to grow and I want to change the way people shop online,” he said.

“I want to become one of the largest used shoe dealers in the country.”

“Hopefully eventually, little by little, we can contact the right people and intercept the data before they end up in a health scare, and get it back and give it another life, and then people can buy it for a really good price.” Boom. Also.

To learn more about Tilt or download the app, visit: www.tilt.app.