The Smart Hustle

For another bonus episode of our podcast series The Smart Hustle, we caught up with Emily Hewertson, a young Conservative political activist with a combined platform of over 100k followers.

Emily rapidly landed in the spotlight after an impromptu cameo on the BBC flagship political show Question Time. We hear how Emily coped with going viral overnight, whilst she shares details of the horrific trolling and abuse she has suffered online as a result of being in the public eye.

For the first bonus episode of our podcast series The Smart Hustle, we sat down with Hannah Chappatte, founder of student rental platform HYBR.

Hannah was inspired to launch HYBR after her own experiences at the University of Bristol. We discuss dodgy landlords, rising house prices and learn how HYBR makes the rental journey that little bit easier for students…

For this bonus episode of The Smart Hustle, we spoke to the visionary founders of the portable and sustainable washing machine, Lava Aqua X, the winner of this year’s Red Bull Basement competition.

Joanna and Paramveer, two students at Brunel University, were determined to improve the washing options available for students: they hated expensive uni laundry systems and the fact that friends would take their dirty laundry home to mum and dad.

This problem inspired them to create Lava Aqua X, a portable and sustainable washing option for students. If every UK university student used their product, we’d save a whopping 16 billion litres of water a year.

Listen out to hear the duo discuss their aims for the future as well as the importance of making their product cost effective as well as fully sustainable.

We’re excited to announce a brand new episode of our podcast series, The Smart Hustle. This week, we sat down with Ekow and Keanu, student entrepreneurs currently building a new app called ‘foodable.’

The app sees users input an ingredient and receive a number of recipes utilising that same ingredient. Not only does this lead to delicious meals, but crucially it is also a means of addressing the issue of food waste that affects many student kitchens.

Ekow thought up the idea over lockdown, but only when he shared it with his mate over a game of FIFA were the wheels for the app put in motion. Since then, the idea came third in a UK wide Red Bull entrepreneurship competition and the boys have had mentoring from Google.

We hear how the boys are using TikTok to market their idea and discuss the challenges of building a team that share their vision and ideas for the brand. They also tell us how their network at university has allowed them to recruit a team packed with a range of skills, from computer scientists to marketeers.

Listen out and make sure to download Foodible when it drops!

This week’s episode of The Smart Hustle sees us sit down with Jack and Will, mates and co-founders of BNDL, the new way for students to buy household essentials.

Jack and Will, who are both currently studying business related degrees at Leeds University, felt that the process of buying household essentials was disorganised, sporadic and unfair with certain housemates paying more than others.

This experience led them to found BNDL, which delivers all essential household products to student houses and allows the recipients to split the price of the box evenly.

We discuss the importance of vibrant marketing to student start-ups, whilst we also hear how they have been able to keep their friendship strong whilst doing business together.

In this week’s episode of our new podcast series, we chat to Rebecca Mabbett, founder of the app R Reflections.

Faced with an inability to try on clothes in store during lockdown, Rebecca thought up R Reflections, enabling users to model clothes virtually on their phones.

Now the app has over 20,000 users, who better to give tips than Rebecca on the best way to use social media to promote a new own brand. We also hear her reflections (pun not intended) on the challenges of creating a business just after leaving school.

In this week’s episode of our new podcast series, we chat to Julia Jaskulska, a student at the University of Leeds. Julia can be found on Instagram @httpjulia with over 80k followers, although she hates being called an influencer, preferring to be known as a content creator. 

We discuss why the term influencer has developed negative connotations, whilst Julia also opens up about her mental health journey and the importance of therapy to her recovery. 

Julia also recalls the time she turned down going on Love Island, and explains why she wasn’t tempted by the lifestyle that would have come along with it… 

Welcome back to the 'The Smart Hustle' - where we look into the weird and wonderful ways university students make money.

In this episode we catch up with LSE student Julia Bismuth, who founded and runs her own fashion brand ZED Paris. Working with a range of artists, ZED Paris creates bespoke handbags tailored to those who want something a little more individual. 

Julia explains why ZED Paris is different from other handbag retailers, whilst she tells us how her family have been so important to her success… 

“I enjoy making clothes, it doesn’t really feel like a job” - Olly Simpson.

In this week’s episode of the 'The Smart Hustle’ we sit down with Olly Simpson, founder of fashion brand PBYOJS. Olly is a textiles student at the London College of Fashion, who previously practised as a photographer for his side hustle. When lockdown ground his business to a halt, he decided to put his textile skills to good use and set up his own clothing brand.

Olly’s range of custom and unique screen-printed pieces hit the mainstream when Quavo personally requested (and was later pictured in) a pair of Olly’s flamboyant jeans. We ask Olly what it felt like to see Quavo’s stylist slide into his DM’s, whilst we also hear why he prefers being his own boss over having to schedule his time around events and photoshoots.

Welcome back to the ‘The Smart Hustle’ - where we look into the weird and wonderful ways university students make money. In this episode we catch up with marketing student Kim Grisdale, who founded the sustainable clothing brand Kustom's Clothing. Kim hand-makes every piece sold on her website from scratch, using second hand clothing and repurposing old items to make new ones to sell. 

We discuss how her degree gave her the confidence to transform a hobby into a business, learn how she used her time wisely in lockdown to grow her brand and hear her views on the danger of fast fashion.

Find Kim's store at: https://www.instagram.com/kustomsclothing/.

Welcome to the new Stint series, 'The Smart Hustle' - where we look into the weird and wonderful ways university students make money. In this episode we sat down with Danielle Mass, a recent psychology graduate from the University of Bristol who has made a name for herself on Depop. Now verified with over 33,000 followers, Danielle runs her Depop page, imaginatively named ReMass, as a “24/7” job. In this episode we hear just how Danielle grew her account from a means of pocket money to a nationwide brand, pick her brain for tips for other student Depop entrepreneurs and learn how she used Love Island to capitalise on sales …

Find Danielle's store here: https://www.depop.com/remass/

Welcome back to the first series of the STINTcast, the 'The Smart Hustle' - where we look into the weird and wonderful ways university students make money. Students certainly know how to think outside the box when it comes to funding their studies – just ask Lacey Clayton. A journalism student at Leeds Trinity University, Lacey was inspired by a friend to sign up to OnlyFans, the platform which has disrupted the entertainment industry by handing back ownership to the creator. In this eye-raising episode Lacey explains how the platform represented a profitable, convenient and empowering option, leading into a wider discussion about the impact of sharing platforms can have on one’s mental health. We also find out exactly why Lacey has stopped posting on the site altogether …

“It’s not the kind of thing you do when you’ve sorted out your life, it’s the kind of thing you do when you’re a student.” Anmol Srivats on Poker.

Welcome back to the new Stint series, 'The Smart Hustle' - where we look into the weird and wonderful ways university students make money. This time around, we sit down (virtually) with former maths student Anmol Srivats, who helped support himself financially whilst studying at the University of St Andrews by playing poker. We learn how Anmol started on a budget of only £10, ask whether he regrets paying off his uni fees with his poker profits and he even gives some tips whilst explaining why students are some of the most fearless poker players in the game…

Welcome to 'The Smart Hustle' - where we look into the weird and wonderful ways university students make money. In our first episode, we speak to Mei Ying Chow, a YouTuber and vlogger who started out on publishing content on Instagram when she was just 14 years old. Mei has since risen to the status of a cross platform influencer, all whilst she continues to study Economics at KCL. So listen out to find out exactly how she did it...