College Kid Started A Sticker Business For $300. Now It Brings In $500K A Year

Car enthusiast Jayson Siu turned a sticker side hustle into a $500,000 business using social media. 
The 21-year-old college student made a TikTok video about a rearview mirror he customized with LED lights that went viral and led to $12,000 in sales in a single day. A year later, he went viral again with a sticker video that led to $38,000 in revenue in one day. Last year, his business — Invalid.jp — generated $512,000 in revenue, according to CNBC.

It all started when Siu wanted to make some extra cash to buy accessories for his car. He spent $300 on a vinyl printer and began selling stickers to friends for $3 to $5 each. 

Wanting to increase his profits, Siu ordered a rear-view mirror for $20 from China and customized it with LED lights. The video he made of the product went viral on TikTok and sales took off.

The young entrepreneur was just a freshman in college. He was completely unprepared, but he scrambled to fill orders, cutting labels by hand and working from his parents' house for long hours. 

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The initial success was driven by social media exposure, so he started posting videos "as often as possible." As purchases continued to roll in, he started thinking he could turn his side hustle into a "real business."

He expanded marketing efforts to Alphabet Inc's GOOG Google, and Meta Platform Inc's META Facebook and Instagram. He began adding new product lines like cupholders, visors and license plates. He continued to buy online, customize the products and resell them. 

He attributed much of his success to his commitment to regularly posting videos on social media, but he's still trying to figure things out. 

The college student has classes until about noon and spends the rest of his day working on the car accessories business. He bought a larger car to help cut down on transportation costs and his mom and girlfriend help manage and pack orders. 

Ultimately, he would like to be able to spend less time on the business, but he's still "trying to figure that part out," he said. 

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This story is part of a new series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire.

Photo: Crea Park from Pixabay.