A British entrepreneur was dealt a difficult blow at the start of the coronavirus pandemic,.
Jack Lear, a 27-year-old man from Pembrokeshire, Wales, had just ordered 200,000 Halloween costumes.
His company, Bodysocks, was preparing months in advance for Halloween.
But as events are off this year, he quickly realised his market was shrinking by the day with widespread cancellations of parties and celebrations across the country.
Instead of letting this destroy his career, the young businessman decided to diversify.
According to WalesOnline, Jack is now set to make £2.5million in a matter of months.
Jack looked around at what he could replace his fancy dress business with and noted Amazon had somehow managed to take on an extra 10,000 staff despite the national lockdown.
This prompted him to invest £500,0
00 to launch BargainFox.com in March, an online sales platform specialising in discounted consumer goods based in Pembroke Dock.
Beard trimmers were the first product to take off, mainly because barbers had closed their doors for lockdown.
Seven months later, the entrepreneur has turned over millions.
Not bad for someone who dropped out of school at the start of his A-levels to pursue his own dreams of setting up a business.
Jack said: "I had already committed to the 200,000 costumes and signed contracts.
"I realised I'd dug myself into a pretty big hole with no market to sell them.
"I could try and weather the storm, which is what most people have done, or I could gamble and start a new business."
Jack took a ”logical look" at the skills his small eight-man team had.
He realised they were good at digital marketing and had a useful knowledge of the workings of a warehouse.
Like many of his best ideas the concept came on one of his long walks in the Pembrokeshire countryside, which he uses to find "peacefulness and clarity" when he's at a crossroads.
"I saw a report that Amazon had taken on 10,000 staff," he continued. "They were doing well – selling costumes wasn't doing well."
He initially stocked beard trimmers but has now expanded the range to more than 50,000 different products across everything from household goods to baby products to sport and leisure gear.
Jack added: "It's mind-blowing how big the range is.
"I look at Amazon and I guess that's what we're trying to aspire to."
It's not just his product range that's expanded either.
Jack's more than quadrupled his staff numbers to 35 and is looking to take on 12 more in the run up to Christmas.
He admits he took out the biggest loan he could and rented the biggest warehouse he could afford.
The house he was building has also stalled while all of his resources are ploughed into the business. He has far from "made it" but he is well on his way.
He added: "It was a bigger risk to do nothing at all. I would rather fail trying than sit back and watch the business die.
"We haven't weathered the storm yet – we're still in the middle of it."
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