'School banned my business when I was 12. I took it online and made £25k'
04.03.2023 - 21:29
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
When many of us were kids, the only worries we had were how many sweets we could buy for a quid and making it home in time for our favourite shows.
But Jasmine Shum was busy running her very own fully-fledged business – one she started when she was just 12-years-old.
The Bolton teenager first decided to sell slime after watching a video on YouTube. The toy – a putty-like substance which consists of glue, borax and water – had a burst in popularity in the late 2010s and has been a kids’ favourite ever since.
Jasmine, now 17 and enjoying a burgeoning career as a fashion influencer, posted about her slime on Snapchat and her friends immediately wanted to buy some, going on to sell her creations in the playground at school.
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But teachers soon caught on to her dealings and banned her from selling slime to other pupils. That’s when she had the idea to trade on Instagram – and so her business was born.
“I just saw a video on YouTube of how to make slime and I thought, ‘I want to try this,’” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“I posted to Snapchat and my friends wanted to buy it. My school banned me, so I thought I would find a way around it and make an Instagram account and sell it there.”
Jasmine’s shop – which she called Slimey.squish88 – quickly began to take off, with her Instagram account eventually racking up 34k followers.
The entrepreneur, who studies business at Xavier College in Rusholme, sold her products through Shopify and would regularly have to restock her products due to selling out.
Jasmine even won a contract with WHSmith and American company Elmers Glue to hold a slime event in the Trafford