They say you have to fail a few times to succeed. Let me present to you some of the various and sundry attempts that didn't make it big, but absolutely contributed to the skillset that allowed that bigness to unfold later:
- Around 2000, I was an avid gamer and played EverQuest, buying items at auction for low, then re-selling high and selling the resulting currency to one of the currency brokers IRL. Made about $400/mo at peak. 😁
- Mid '00s: BeadKnits, one of my first attempts at making a "real" business. Hand coded my very own (ugly AF) website and sold beaded, knitted items. 0/10 would not recommend you cannot get your time back out of these kinds of things at scale.
- Mid '00s: Riffing off BK, I began importing hand-turned knitting needles from a tiny company in India. I became an eBay PowerSeller and built an entire brand around knitting supplies called Faknitic (fanatic about knitting). I gave this one up due to low margins and basically sucking at retail strategy when I had my first child in 2008.
- A foray in FOREX somewhere in there. Bleh. I was greedy and eager. It did give birth to later Megan who successfully dabbles in crypto and stocks, but most of my cash flow at this point goes into aggressive asset and business growth, which has led to a 20x revenue increase since 2022 and the acquisition of a $1M commercial warehouse in 2025.
- 2008-2012 (ish?): Touch of Avalon, beaded gemstone jewelry and various crafts. Faster turnaround, high quality materials, better margins. Sold these at farmers markets (briefly managed one of those) and craft shows. My first child took his first steps in a craft show at a nursing home, resting between his efforts by taking wheelchair rides with residents. Took us through a very lean span there where food stamps and secondhand everything kept us alive.