A LOTTA BOTTLE Love Island water flasks help tycoon make a million at 27
Beast chases off reality TV hunks
A YOUNG businessman has become a millionaire thanks to Love Island.
Ed Snelson, 27, owns a firm that prints names on products.
And he has seen demand for personalised water bottles skyrocket after they were featured on the telly dating show, inset, in recent years.
Ed, right, who started his Signature Printing after dropping out of university in 2013, now drives a £62,000 Audi RS5 and regularly enjoys exotic holidays.
He said: “I’ve quite high ambitions about what I want to earn.
“My business brings in seven figures a year, this year it will make £1.5million and next year, £2.1m.
“Things like Love Island definitely have an effect on what consumers want. A couple of years BRAINBOX Mark Labbett reckons he’s a bigger hit in nightclubs than the Love Island guys.
The star of TV quiz The Chase, nicknamed The Beast, is regularly hired to do public appearances all over the UK.
And Mark, 54, impresses club bosses far more than some telly rivals half his age.
He said: “When I do nightclub appearances you start at 1am so the hours are antisocial.
“But I get in there and do the work. And I have an advantage because I ago the demand to have your name in a certain font on a plastic water bottle was super-high and we got loads of orders to do them.
“I always wanted to be selfemployed and dreamed of owning a business.
“It started in school – every year the school ran a young enterprise project to give the students a taste of what it was like.
“I put myself forward as managing director and we created a business selling personalised hoodies and T-shirts.
“We ended up doing really well and making a few grand out of it.
“I knew I could rarely drink. I turn up to these events on time, sober, properly dressed and ready to work.
“That puts me ahead of about 90% of the Love Island guys who will turn up the next week. They’re lovely but sometimes they haven’t got the best work ethic.”
Doing photos with his fans is a big part of Mark’s job.
He added: “For some reason women like to have photos next to move forward with it.” He started his printing business in a bedroom at his parents’ house while still working for Airbus.
Ed, from Chester, maintains there is no secret to his success.
He believes it is down to hard work and he would rather spend time on his business really big guys. Having a photo with me is the equivalent to three months in the gym.
“Everyone looks slim and young and gorgeous!”
The dad-of-one added: “The fame has good sides and bad sides.
“Obviously it’s nice when you get invited to the VIP things – I do like being in the directors’ box at Sheffield United.
“But at the same time it can be a bit annoying when you see people doing a sneaky photo. If I’m with my family I think, ‘Hang on!’” than going out drinking. He added: “If you want to go into business and have success at a young age it’s not going to be an easy journey.
“It’s going to take years of putting in hard work at a time when your peers are probably at university and partying, or in the early stages of a career and not taking it seriously.
“I’m a very sociable person but I would happily sacrifice going out drinking to stay in and work to progress my business to the next level.”