Meet the enterprising 11-year-old who runs a wax melt business alongside home learning

Several weeks, and a few YouTube tutorials, later the 11-year-old has created her own lockdown business, Eco Wax Melts UK, making and selling eco-friendly wax melts.

Wax melts are small, scented pieces of wax designed to be gently heated in a burner to release their fragrance.

Miss Readman, a pupil at St Peter’s School in York, has received over 100 orders through her Etsy shop and made over £1,000 in sales so far.

She makes the products from her garage in between home learning.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, she said: “I’ve been waking up at 5 o clock in the morning and making all my wax melts before starting school. I also do some after school.”

Miss Readman uses social media, including TikTok and Facebook, to market her business, creating behind-the-scenes videos of her products to show the process.

Her starter pack, which includes a wax burner and nine wax melts, is her best selling product.

She is also focusing on Mother’s Day gifts and corporate gifts for companies to send to their remote workers. “I’ve created a collection to help stressed out homeschooling mums,” she said. “I’m also doing big orders from companies to send to their teams who working at home to cheer them up in lockdown.”

Miss Readman’s father, John, said: “I’m really impressed by Heidi’s work ethic and her focus on the quality of the product, the packaging and the attention to detail when it comes to getting nice photos.”

He added: “She’s been doing it for three or four weeks now and it’s turned into a proper business. This might not have happened if it wasn’t for homeschooling so maybe it’s a positive to come out of lockdown.”

To find out more, visit www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EcoWaxMeltsUK