What did you think you would be doing the day after you left school? Bet it wasn’t becoming CEO of your dream company, like Callum Winspear, a 16-year-old entrepreneur from Corsock, Dumfries and Galloway whose booming new business United Bricks has been built on his love for Lego.
It all began when he was just 13 and spotted a gap in the market for bespoke Lego military minifigures and accessories, the former Dalry School pupil explains.
“I started in 2013, selling my own Lego minifigure designs on eBay.”
“That was to fund his Lego addiction,” mum Judith laughs.
Quickly earning a stellar reputation for high quality, detail and accuracy, the demand for his minifigures soon completely outstripped his supply. So much so that last year Callum invested in a 3D Roland UV Printer to design and make the minifigures in-house and got big brother Reece, 22, (who also runs sister company Stewartry UV Printing for non-Lego commissions) on board, teaming up to focus on the business full-time. Judith does the book keeping and even their grandma lends a hand when it gets busy.
Judith says: “We got the printer when Callum was 15. We were a bit unsure because it’s not a cheap bit of machinery. But as a family, we were behind him 100 per cent because we saw how well he was doing and how good his reputation was.”
United Bricks specialises in customised World War II military Lego, branching out with minifigures and accessories for World War I, the American Revolutionary War and the Boer Wars.
“Along with military, we do characters from TV shows like The Walking Dead. Our own spin-off minifigure is ‘The Walking Brick’, and Rick Grimes is ‘Brick Grimes’,” Callum says.
“We are also looking into doing more bespoke orders. We made a Lego minifigure of Prince Charles to be presented to him on the 40th anniversary of Prince’s Trust. We work with other organisations like that too, so it’s nice to help out. We always get people coming up to us asking if they can get minifigures of themselves. We make them for friends as favours and it’s something we would like to offer in the future.”
Last year, the boys made about 15,000 minifigures, and this year they have already topped that figure with around 20,000.
Reece says: “We didn’t expect the business to grow as large as it did, as quick as it did. It started as a hobby for Callum, and then we got the 3D printer, and we thought it would take a few years before we even started to make a profit, but we got quite a few orders quite quickly.”
And the future looks set to get getting bigger and brighter for United Bricks, which is making a reputable name for itself worldwide, with a network of customers and resellers in Europe, America and Asia. Not only that, the brothers now have an award under their belt too – Dumfries and Galloway’s Most Promising New Business Award 2016. Up against tough competition, they were surprised and delighted to win but there was no time to celebrate – the next day they were straight down the road to a Lego convention in Wakefield!
Reece says: “We have more ideas of what we would like to do than we have time, so it’s just picking what we should do next.”
The boys are so busy they are often in the office until midnight, and are looking into hiring staff to ease the workload. Even so, there’s little chance of them squeezing in a holiday this year.
“I’ve tried to book a trip away a couple of times but the boys just keep getting too busy. Looks like it’s going to have to be a few days away at a Lego convention!”, Judith laughs.
So what is their secret to such quick success?
Callum says: “Things were starting to take off before I left school. Either I had to give it my full attention or it wouldn’t work.”
Judith adds: The teachers were unsure start with… they wanted him to finish school in Castle Douglas. No one had ever left to start a business, but if he hadn’t have done it someone else would have stepped in and done it.”
“We just kind of got in to the market at the right time,” Callum smiles.
Find out more at https://www.united-bricks.com
Article written exclusively for DGWGO by Claire Henderson
Photos Copyright DGWGO
