I turned my side hustle into a full-time job paying £140,000 for ONE sale – here’s how I did it
A MAN has revealed how he turned his side hustle into a full-time job that nets him £140,000 for just one sale.
Jon Kirkbright, 45, worked in car sales and insurance before setting up his new business via eBay just 11 years ago.
Through his work with cars, Jon, from, Burntwood, Staffordshire, spotted a gap in the market and started on his journey to success.
He founded Plate Hunter, which provides custom number plates to everyone from average joes to millionaires to superstar footballers.
Jon explained: “Back when I launched this website, my mum said that wouldn’t get any clients, because personalised number plates were only for the rich.
“Now when I look at cars on the road it seems to be one in three.”
This popularity boom means big business for Jon, who said that investors who previously sunk their money into fine art or wine are now getting in on the number plate trade to get rich quick.
Some of his top sales have included a £440,000 F1 plate to businessman Afazal Khan, who has reportedly refused offers of £10 million for it, and a personalised set to an England and Arsenal star.
Jon added: “There are lots of [plates] which started in 2007 and 2010 for three, four grand.
“By five years ago they were 10 grand and now we sell them for 20 grand. It”s just supply and demand.”
His website now hosts 60 million plates, ranging from personalised registrations to those released by the DVLA.
All that came from listing a few items he found on eBay just over a decade ago, but now he “can’t keep up” with demand.
Requests include customers’ initials, those of wives and girlfriends or even divorced couples dividing assets.
He chuckled that some people do ask for rude words, but recalled on case in particular where a customer bragged about their explicit plate on social media and received a stern call from the DVLA.
Jon even claimed that local councils are selling personalised plates that were once used by senior officials to raise cash.
However, he warned: “Some of the bigger dealers will hoodwink you and say it’s worth more just to get you on the books.
“You can’t just pluck figures out of the sky, you need to look into each one.”
It comes after one woman revealed how her side hustle allows people to make £7,000 a month from their sofas.
Meanwhile, another explained how she made £165,000 in just two years selling spreadsheets and claimed that you can do it too with zero qualifications.