Take a look at the B-Sides Box Sets website and Instagram. Professional, right? Would you be surprised to know that the person behind it all is only seventeen? What might impress you even more is that he was only fifteen when he launched the business. Owen Hido, founder of B-Sides Box Sets, is a prime example that you can achieve success at any age.
Owen has been intrigued by business since he was a young child. He started with lemonade stands just like everyone else, by ten years old Owen was filming wedding montages for family and friends. Although he did enjoy this, Owen knew he would soon move onto another business idea. The one that came next is B-Sides Box Sets, the brand which brought Owen and SHEESH! together for an interview.
What does the name ‘B-Sides Box Sets’ mean?
“The name B-Sides refers to vinyl records where the B-side is a bonus track. The B-side is known to be as strong or stronger than the A-side and often became a hit in its own right. In a similar way the box sets often feature photos that have never been published, have been overlooked, and also include previews of brand new work.”
Photos from Ed Templeton’s Box Set, Loose Shingles.
B-Sides Box Sets is a whole new tactile experience compared to what previous photo books have provided. Rather than printing photos on pages which are bound together, Owen opted to leave each photo as it’s own card, similar to the style of baseball cards. This allows customers to choose how they would like to use the photos in their set. Owen mentioned some of his customer’s favorite ways to use the photosets: as inspiration on mood boards, as decor on walls, or set up on mantles and shelves. He also added that “the consumer can make their own story or sequence,” rather than limiting the story to however the photographer chooses, such as in a usual photobook. The versatility and uniqueness of the box sets has caught the eye of forty bookstores across Europe, Asia, and both North and South America.
Despite Owen’s business expanding across four continents, the production and fulfillment all happens in the Bay Area of California. After working with his graphic designer, the production starts in a printing press in San Francisco. Owen enjoys visiting the press because it takes what otherwise is a business done mostly by himself into a serious, professional setting. This helps remind Owen that B-Sides Box Sets is not just a vision, but reality. “I go in, they’re running the machine which is as big as a room, it’s huge. And they run it through, and then I have to check all the colors.”
The press also cuts the prints, fills the acrylic boxes with the photos, and shrink wraps the finished product. After that, Owen takes care of fulfilling the various orders. Individuals and bookstores place orders online, through the website Owen set up for his business using Shopify. His bedroom serves as a makeshift fulfillment center, with boxes, paper, and shipping labels.
Although Owen has run B-Sides Box Sets by himself from the start, it has been a priority of his to maintain a professional atmosphere, especially because he is much younger than many of his customers. The benefit of e-commerce is that as long as he maintains his website and Instagram feed, no one would assume that he is a teenager. Owen told us that no one has commented negatively about his age.
So far, B-Sides Box Sets has already worked with an impressive array of influential photographers, including Ed Templeton. Unfortunately, the pandemic has put a hold on some of Owen’s plans (including attending his fourth San Francisco Art Book Fair), but he hinted that we should be expecting a couple of talented photographers to join the collection of box sets soon.
How did you get in contact with some of these big name photographers?
“My dad is a photographer, so my whole life I’ve been surrounded by photography… He has photography friends, and they would come over. I knew Ed Templeton, like as a friend, before we even made a box set together. So [my dad] definitely has helped me connect with them. And now that I have more box sets, people at least know who I am or they have heard of it, so it is easier now versus when I didn’t even have a product.”
Both Owen and B-Sides Box Sets should serve as inspiration for the youth that want to start a business but feel their age is holding them back. Follow Owen’s example: try something new, put effort into what you come up with, and maybe you too will find your product being sold across the globe.
