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 sold them out within three months.
“I didn’t expect it to blow up. It’s turned our lives around. We do get a lot of rude requests for personalisation. But the strange requests make us giggle.”
She also parents her six-year-old son Louis which proved to be challenging while working as a pharmacist.
The pressure of her former job particularly hit during the Covid-19 pandemic where she was vaccinating around 100 people without a break.
After meeting Joel on a run, the duo realised they loved spending time together which helped them get into business with each other.
When working out, they noticed there was a lack of fun and interesting towels which led them to form the business they have today.
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.”
