The bright idea that made this 24-year-old a millionaire

An Aussie woman has revealed the bright idea that has made her a millionaire at just 24 — and it’s so genius, you’ll kick yourself for not thinking of it first.

Alison Egan is the mastermind behind an at-home teeth whitening service that is fast becoming a household name in Australia.

Incredibly, the Sydney local had the idea for her business, Sparkling White Smile, in a dream, telling Yahoo Lifestyle she could never have imagined how successful it would become.

“The company is a multi-million dollar company today and it all stemmed from a dream I had where I was going to get my teeth whitened,” Alison, who had the idea at 21, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

“Following the dream I looked into how much it would cost to get done. I Googled ‘cheap teeth whitening’ and even the cheapest was going to cost about $1,000 and I couldn’t afford it at the time.”

At the time the only people who offered whitening were dentists, which always came with hefty fees.

But after discovering you didn’t need to be a dentist to perform the treatment, she looked into how to import the equipment she needed to do it herself.

After borrowing the money from her mum, Alison had the specialist kit shipped over from Holland and spent time with dentists who were willing to teach her the trade.

“I literally studied everything I could about teeth whitening, it is a non-qualification course, so it worked well with what I was doing already as a health professional,” she said.

Initially her goal was small, aiming to see five clients a week as she could make $1,000 that she would put towards a house deposit.

Not long after launching though, she found herself doing five clients a night after work and she realised she was onto something big.

“I was like, ‘what is going on?'” she laughed.

Thanks to her savvy business mind, Alison kept ‘pushing on’ and eventually she took on her first staff member.

“Once my first employee was on board, we smashed out 15-18 hour days every single day. After that I hired two more staff, then two more and the business just grew out of hand.”

Her success though came at a cost, sacrificing spare time to spend with friends and family to instead grow her company.

“I was 21, so all my friends were the same age they were going out partying and heading overseas, but every bit of time and money I had I invested into my company,” she explained. “I literally lived off $80 a week because I was just investing everything I earned.”

Fast-forward two years and Alison has 15 employees and is managing a multi-millionaire venture.

“To be honest everyone would tell me when I’d made it, but I didn’t see it,” she said. “I’m the kind of person that’s never going to be happy, not ‘not happy’, but more that I have always got to move forward and do something else and grow the company.”

“That’s the sort of person that I am, the same person I was before,” she stressed. “It’s key to know the money doesn’t change you.”

Now Alison’s dreams to grow her business are becoming a reality. This year she’s began franchising the business across Australia and has high hopes to take it global.

“I want to be the McDonalds of the teeth whitening world and I make it very clear my employees have to be dressed right,” she explained.

“I’m all about image and employing people with the right personality for the brand. I can teach someone all the skills in the world but I can’t teach personality.”

Her #girlboss attitude caught the attention of Sydney PR maven Roxy Jacenko and the pair now regularly work together, hosting ‘teeth whitening parties’ — something Alison also offers customers.

“You’re not just doing teeth whitening, you’re changing people’s lives and making people happy and it’s so nice,” she finished.

Talk about an inspiration.

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