A man from Kerala living in London has shared how a small side hustle earned him quick money within minutes, before local authorities stepped in and stopped it.
Vishnu Vijayadharan, who works a regular job in London, documented the entire experience on Instagram while trying to sell instant polaroid photographs on the streets. His short experiment ended with police and council officers warning him about selling without permission.
He Started With A Simple Idea
In the video, Vijayadharan explains that he wanted to test whether selling instant photos on London streets could become a profitable side business. “Let’s see how much money we can make by selling polaroid pictures in London,” he says in the clip.
Polaroid pictures are instant photographs
that print immediately after being clicked. Tourists often enjoy them because they get a physical picture within minutes instead of waiting for digital prints later.
To begin, Vijayadharan bought a Kodak instant camera for around 110 pounds, which is roughly Rs 14,000. He then headed to a busy area in London carrying a cardboard sign that read, “Cute £5 polaroids”.
Each picture was priced at 5 pounds, or around Rs 640. His idea worked almost immediately.
A woman became his first customer and appeared happy with the photograph. Soon after, another person also agreed to buy one. “After two seconds, we got another customer,” Vijayadharan says in the video.
Police Stopped The Side Hustle
Things were going smoothly for a few minutes and Vijayadharan began thinking the idea could turn into a proper business. “At that point I genuinely started thinking we were gonna make millions, but our next customer turned out to be the police,” he says.
According to Vijayadharan, council officers informed him that selling products or services on the street requires official permission. “Council officers came to charge us for illegal street selling,” he says in the clip.
He admitted that he had no idea permission was needed before starting the activity. “Apparently we were supposed to take permission from the council to do this and I had no idea about it,” he added.
Even though the experiment ended quickly, Vijayadharan still managed to earn 10 pounds, around Rs 1,200, within nearly 10 minutes.
He also claimed that people with proper permission could make much more money through similar street businesses. “But if you have permission from the council, you can easily make 100 pounds an hour here,” he says.
Social Media Users React
The Instagram clip has now drawn plenty of reactions online, with users sharing mixed opinions about the side hustle.
A person wrote, “That is why visa rules are getting tougher because of you people … just don’t treat every country like India.” Another commented, “Too many rules in UK.”
A user pointed out the possible risk involved and wrote, “Obviously, you’re not supposed do any business without permission. Also, mate you’re on a skilled worker visa. So it would risk your visa too.”
Others, however, looked at it as a harmless experiment. “Fine, okay, the experience you got was priceless,” a comment read.
Someone else wrote, “Take permission and do it as side hustle bro…. you probably will make more money than 9-5.” “Good experiment,” another user added.
/images/ppid_a911dc6a-image-177996843293099626.webp)
/images/ppid_a911dc6a-image-177987887810932711.webp)
