Worker quits Domino’s Pizza job to start business with £10 – now makes six figures

After struggling with her mental health, she quit her job and started pursued her passion

An entrepreneur has shared her inspirational story of how she quit her job at Domino's and started her own business with just £10. Laura Schmidt, 27, is the founder of Lovendu, a company which sells journals and planners designed to help with wellbeing and mental health. Having struggled with her mental health since childhood, things took a turn for the worse when the pandemic hit. She'd been hoping to start a PhD in psychology but found her mental health was worsening, causing her to leave her part-time job at Domino's Pizza. Unemployed, she decided to start her own business with a tenner, and now Lovendu is worth a huge six figures. Speaking to the Daily Star, Schmidt explained that the idea for Lovendu came from her own experience with journaling, which she found had helped her in the past.

"I have always struggled with my mental health since childhood," she said. "So when the pandemic hit, like a many other people, I was really struggling. I was in such a dark place that I decided to start journaling, hoping it would help in any sort of way."

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgUZJRiD_ma/?hl=en After she started the journalling, she says that her sleep improved following some "pretty bad insomnia," and that she was "more productive and just felt generally better." She continued: "I wanted to share this with the world as few people journal for their wellbeing." Talking about how she managed to get her business going, she added: "I started with £10 for the business, beginning things on Etsy where I printed on demand. I started with two journals and the £10 was to order myself a copy each for me to take photos and use for TikToks." When she made her first sales, she used the money to "pay for more stock and packaging" and "hasn't stopped" since. Laura sang the praises of TikTok as well and the role it played in helping her get the business off the ground. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdTznKaghF5/?hl=en She said that it "just takes one video to go viral to get crazy sales." As the business has grown, Laura has started taking inspiration from her customers for new ideas, who have suggested products like an "Overthinking Journal" which "sold out with two days of launch" and is not one of her bestsellers. And she had some advice for anyone thinking of starting their own business as well: don't worry about the opinion of others. "That’s something that held me back for so long and I know I would have regretted it so much if I let the opinions of others hold me back from my dreams," she said. She also advised not to compare yourself to businesses that claim to achieve six figures in two minutes, explaining that it's important to "give yourself a realistic and fair timeline." Related links:

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