MANY of us are struggling to afford the basics right now, with the cost of everyday essentials spiralling.
After struggling to make enough to pay rent, one woman decided to start a side hustle and it now makes over £1.5 million per month.
Like many young women, Tessa Barton could barely make ends meet in 2017.
Despite her having two jobs as a freelance photographer and influencer, with her husband Cole working as full-time software developer – things were still a struggle.
Having previously tried a number of side hustles, the newlyweds were desperate to make enough to keep their 250 sqaure ft apartment in New York.
Faced with paying £2,222 ($2.8k) per month in rent, she attempted to create a lucrative side hustle – one last time.
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Little did they know what would happen next.
Using skills they already had, the married couple started making and selling photo filters for Adobe Lightroom and it was an instant success.
With a few weeks, they already had a large fan base which is when Tessa and Cole decided to launch their own photo editing software: Tezza (Tessa’s college nickname).
Recalling the lengthy road to success, she told CNBC’s How I Made It: “We were building it, probably, from the hours of 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
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“It was a lot of tears and trial and error and thinking, ‘OK, this is a dumb idea. It’s never going to work.’ Because we couldn’t really get it [to work] for a long time. It was a struggle.”
Working 18 hours a day behind the scenes, Cole admits that they never expected the app to take off like it did.
The entrepreneur told the outlet: “We started this without the intention of it becoming a business. It really started as a passion project, a way for us to hopefully get some extra income to pay rent and survive in New York City.”
To their surprise though, it soon became a brand worth over £21.03 million ($26.5m) per year or £1.5 million ($2.2m) per month.
Though the base app is free, she charges a staggered fee for premium features with the most expensive subscription costing £46 per year.
As the bussiness rapidly grew, Tessa and Cole have remained co-owners and still spend the majority of the time focusing on the app – when they aren’t raising their young daughter.
She has also hired a small team of 12 employees to help with their creative vision and save on costs, with the husband and wife working full time for Tezza.
Having just launched a video editing element on their app, the couple are now looking to host real-world creative events and are experimenting with what could be possible in the future.
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For Tessa, the best part of the app has been the financial freedom she’s gained and she told other entrepreneurs to pursue their passion – even if they a scared.
“The fear of starting something is the hardest part,” she said, adding: “Maybe [your first idea] won’t be your product, but you’ll learn everything you need to know for the next. We really realized … you got to just be consistent and keep [creating].”
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Katherine Sidnell
