My Story: Turning A Childhood Hobby Into A Business (no matter how strange it is)

My Story: Turning A Childhood Hobby Into A Business (no matter how strange it is)

As a child I enjoyed collecting reptiles of many kinds. You name it I had it hidden under my bed includingsnakes, lizards and even an alligator at one point. My mom never knew what she was going to find.

As I got older she completely avoided my room. This allowed me to collect even more. She didn't realize how many animals I had until I was leaving for college. I couldn't leave my collection behind so you could only imagine the look on my mother's face when she saw the amount and types of reptiles I was carrying down the stairs, into my car.

So now I'm at college and realized that I spent more time sneaking reptiles into the dorm roomrather than studying. I knew how important college was but I took a gamble and decided to put it on pauseto open my own reptile shop. That lasted for a couple of years before I decided I wanted more. I thought about my desires for a while and decided torelocate to an areathat could open new doors for me. So I closed my reptile store and moved to Florida where the weather would satisfy my reptiles needs and where I felt I couldexpand my business.

It was difficult to get started in a new state where I didn't know anyone. I decided I needed a business name and website. That's when ExoticJungle was born. I was getting very little business through internet salesand decidedto takeadvantage of my free timeand worked my hours togetmy permit to work with venomous animals. After that, I needed a jobtoget by.I worked for a fewof the mom and pop reptile storesthen landed a job in one of thepet store chains across the US. As much as Idisliked working forother people I needed to do it and it gave me the ability to keep my own business running.

Two years later I becamethe store managerat the pet storeand I wasbecoming exhausted. I became a reptile breeder and my garagewas filled withhundreds of mostly venomous snakesthatrequiredweekly cleaning and feeding.During this timeExotic Jungle's name was getting out there andmy internet sales wereincreasing.As a result, I received a phone call froma producer located in CA. They needed to rent a black mamba for Kill Bill Vol II and I just happened to have the animal they were looking for. So off to CA I wentfor two weeks to film in the movie.That opened doors to an entirely new world for me. It was great but it was becoming too much for one person.

Another year went by and I was hanging in there. I was still working at the pet store and everyone knew of my reptile passions. Oddly enough reptile cages were getting placed in each of the stores one by one. This was my time to shine and I began supplying the reptiles to them. Within a short amount of time, many of the stores were selling reptiles and I was given an option of either staying store manager or giving it up to become their supplier. I could not do both so I decided to take another gamble to pursue my business.

It was time to prove myself. I kept my head held high and did whatever I could to provide support to my family. This includedmoving the animals out of the garage into a wharehouse andattendingas many reptile shows I could.

Five years later I am still the primary reptile supplier for the pet stores and get called for random reptile handler and reptile rental jobs for movies andphoto shoots. I've had the opportunity to meet lots of celebrities andLOVE my job. The repitle shows have played a huge role the last couple of years and am finally pursing yet another passion and am putting on my own reptile show this summer called the Myrtle Beach Reptile Expo.I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Who says you can't turnyourchildhood hobby into a job of yourdreams? I've accomplished a lotand will teach my children to pursue theirown passions. It does require lots ofdedication and work butyou truly can do anything you put your mind to.

POST COMMENT

Blank Invoice Use for Small Businesses Air News On Aerospace & Defense Air Show Held in Cape Town ,Displaying Of Business Jets & Boeing Aircraft Get the best scales for your business get Avery Scales 3 Steps To Building a Blog – Online Blogs for Business Business Tax Extension Request In IRS File Tax Extension Online Can Managed Server Hosting Help you save Cash and time? Designing Business Cards Cheap business class flights to Amsterdam's largest party event: Queen's Birthday Celebrations Exactly how might Liverpool Street be a more convenient location for your business? Free Online Home Business Training – Leadership For Traditional and Home Business Importance of Plastic Cards for Businesses How Promotional Items can help Your Business VoIP Phone System Requirements for small businesses