A CHEF who makes thousands from sharing recipes online used to be homeless and living out of his car.
Simon Hannigan, 32, who lives in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, is a social media sensation these days.
He posts videos for his followers to recreate his recipes - but he reveals his success has only come after falling on hard times.
Simon makes between £2,500 - £5,000 per post, collaborating with some of the UK's biggest supermarket and homeware brands for sponsored content.
His creative endeavour began as a bit of fun two years ago when he set up an Instagram teaching people how to cook during lockdown.
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Simon gets around 30 million views per month, and has worked with some big-name businesses who have been eager to share some of his stellar success.
But Simon reveals he came from humble beginnings, finding himself with nowhere to live as a teenager.
He told The Sun Online: "I was homeless at 19, I bought a car because I was short on my rent, so I thought I could sell that on and make money and I didn't.
"I had three jobs, my main job which was an apprentice joiner, the wage I was on was £90 a week, you have to do other jobs as well.
"I got two flat tyres, so if I didn't fix them then I wouldn't be able to earn the money to pay rent anyway, and then if I did fix them, I still couldn't pay my rent because I wasn't earning enough."
The turning point came when he was sitting in his car outside the place he'd just been kicked out of figuring out what his next step was.
A stranger walked past and asked if he was okay - a simple caring gesture that turned out to be exactly what Simon needed.
He said: "I looked pretty down-trodden because I was sleeping in my car. Basically he sat down next to me and asked what was going on. He mentioned car sales, and that really interested me.
"I told him I had bought a car to try and make the difference up by selling it on. He told me to stick at it and it motivated me. It drove me forward.
"I was a young lad, I was spending my days fixing council properties as a joiner but then when I applied for a council house they told me it would be a two-year waitlist as a single guy with no kids.
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"It makes you doubt yourself, it puts pressure on you, I was sitting there wondering how I'd have a shower to get to work, how am I going to get to sleep, what happens if my petrol runs out and it's freezing in there. It was tough."
With an entrepreneurial mindset, he was able to get back on his feet when someone bought the car.
He said: "I turned that one car into eighty cars with six months, buying and selling them, for £2,000 each."
Soon enough, Simon got back on his feet and was able to get a job at Ford where he worked his way up to being the head of business at 24 on £150,000.
Later, he started his own recruitment company but hit another rough patch again when Covid struck, saying everything that he worked hard for was lost.
He explained: "Everyone stopped taking people on. I thought I'm back to square one again."
As Brits had to stay home during the lockdown, he passed the time by making food and sharing the videos to Instagram, teaching people how to make the recipes - and they proved popular.
He said: "It just grew and grew. It kind of blew up."
As the interest in his content grew, Simon took a big risk to invest in his new craft as it took off.
He explained: "It was costing me £250-300 a week in food before I started getting from brands.
"To keep that motivation going, knowing that you're paying this money, and it could lead to nothing, is daunting."
Some of the ideas are his own creations while other dishes are classics that he puts his own spin on.
Simon jokes: "There are only so many ways you can make a chicken tikka masala."
"I've always taught myself how to cook to a very good level. People started trying my recipes and then sharing it on their story and obviously more people would come and follow me."
He started a TikTok account 10 months ago and already has 400,000 followers.
Now, it's not just big views he pulls in - but he's making big money through collaborations with brands.
Simon said: "It's just grown since, I brought my own BBQ out with Swan, I've worked with massive businesses like Tesco, Aldi and Cineworld.
"It went from me making my dinner, then I got reached out to by local farm shops who provided food, and then I got contacted by loads of businesses asking if I could do a recipe with certain ingredients."
Now it's gone full-circle and he's helping small businesses, increasing their revenue by creating meal packs people can eat at home.
"People want me to open my own restaurant but I'm too busy for it. I'm visiting takeaways, building lunchboxes."
He hopes his story helps other people who find themselves down on their luck, believing with a bit of hard work anything is possible.
"Surround yourself with the right kind of people. It really made me evaluate who was in my life and who was actually supportive and who was against me.
"I just believed in what I did and believed in myself."
