Hobby Turned Into Successful Business

One of my friends, Jim Beckett, was an avid baseball card collector when he was a kid. He was one of the few kids in America whose mom didn't throw away his collection when he grew up.

Even when he became an expert witness, he still loved going to baseball card stores and shows.

One of the things that irritated him was to periodically see a dealer taking an advantage of a kid who had a valuable card but was given very little for it.

This prompted him to create a newsletter that he would give away for free to anyone who wanted it, giving prices of the most commonly traded cards. He would set the price, just collect data on what cards were being sold for.

After two years of doing this for free, a friend of his suggested he expand that into a magazine and start charging for it. He started Beckett Publications.

The business grew like wildfire becoming a multi-million dollar company in a short period of time.

Eventually the business grew to over 150 employees and captured 90% of the market share.

Jim's Acres of Diamonds was his hobby.

What is your Acres of Diamonds?

About the Author

Dan Swanson is an Internet marketing consultant, who systematically increases qualified traffic and improves conversions of visitors to customers for client’s websites. For more information on his Internet marketing consulting services visit http://www.iq2.com.

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