Entrepreneur who started business aged 12 inspires youngsters

As Christmas market season approaches, makers up and down the country will be preparing their wares – but not many will be as young as Charlie Line, who started his business when he was just 12 years old.

Charlie, now 24, was inspired to start making gifts out of reclaimed wood after he admired a cute – but overpriced – wooden reindeer at a garden centre as a child.

“They’re quite popular now, but at the time I thought it was really cool. I turned the tag around and it was £50. I thought I can make that, definitely.

“I went home with my dad’s Makita drill and we gave it a go.”

When Charlie took 10 of his reindeer to a local market and sold out in an hour, he knew he was on to something.

Now a qualified civil engineer who runs his woodwork business Charlie’s Woodland Wonders as a side hustle, he has been speaking to young people at Shipley Library about how it all began.

Speaking about his first market stall success, he said: “I was retailing my reindeers at £10 each, so obviously I’d undercut the competition by a decent amount, but as a 12-year-old making £100 in an hour, you can imagine I was like, ‘I’ve got a business here’.

“At first I kept it to Christmas, but then I expanded to make candle holders and other gifts, all from reclaimed wood and rustics or wood, and Charlie’s Woodland Wonders began.

“Over the years, I find I get inspiration from looking in different shops or online, and I just try and figure it out myself.

“Whatever I still sell now, that’s basically made it through the process. There’s a lot of failed items and things that I couldn’t quite get my head around or that didn’t really have a market.”