I make £270k a year from my jewellery side hustle – I work on it in my lunch break and even get my mum to help

A WOMAN has revealed that she makes £270,000 a year from a side hustle that she began working on in her lunch break. Maya Portorreal, 27, dreamed of being a fashion designer when she left university, but soon realised that it is expensive to get patterns and samples made. She took a job as a retail assistant at a luxury label instead, and just a month and a half in, decided she wanted to start a jewellery brand. Maya said that her colleagues thought she was “insane” but she decided to pursue her business venture, Kitten & Co, regardless. She started the business with just £1,500 back in 2019 and spent a month and a half coming up with the idea. After finding a supplier, she created a ring design, and then turned to social media to promote her work. Maya soon got noticed by a number of influencers, who started to share her jewellery online. She soon began making sales, at first selling her rings for just £14.75. As her business began to grow, she upped her prices, and Kitten & Co. was soon making £8,000 a month. Maya began taking classes to help her market her brand, which she said “scaled my company to a point that’s unimaginable”. “Facebook ads have become an extensive part of my business, and I can’t run without them”, she told CNBC. Maya said that she would work on her side hustle in her lunch break, and in the evenings, when she got home from work. “Everyone thought I was crazy because I was working two full time jobs”, she said. Maya would work on her jewellery business until 3am and has now hired her mum to help her out. “My mum herself is an entrepreneur, so it was very easy to get her on board”, she said. “She’s like my assistant, and I piggyback ideas from here”. Maya’s jewellery ranges in price from £30, to £270 and her business now brings in £270,00 a year. She makes everything from earrings to necklaces and men’s jewellery. Maya has now quit her day job, and works on Kitten & Co. full time. “A day job gives you the time to step out of your comfort zone”, she said. Maya is now in the process of automating her business so that she has more free time. “I did the hustle, I did the grind, now I want it to work for me”, she said. Fabulous will pay for your exclusive stories. Just email: [email protected] and pop EXCLUSIVE in the subject line.