In 2011 I got this crazy idea to turn a hobby into a business. I had “gotten into” reptiles, mostly leopard geckos, was breeding them an trying to sell them at reptile shows. In truth I had only been doing this since 2008 and really didn’t have a lot of experience.
Prior to this dumb decision I had spent years getting a doctorate in biology. struggled with getting a career off the ground , crashed and burned. Tried to reinvent myself several times but lacked the passion and motivation to succeed at anything.
Reptiles really got me excited. It was like being a kid again where my true passion was animals; probably why I went into biology. But a part of me wants to be an entrepreneur. I am always looking at life’s little problems and saying “here’s how that could be done better”.
Anyway, back to 2011. I spent a Sunday in May selling a few geckos that I had bred and my wife said “maybe you should open a small store”.
For the next few weeks I researched the idea and discussed it with a few people that said they thought I should…

Now, three years later, I have a store. I have spend more than twice what I originally thought I would, haven’t had one profitable month, hardly have any time off, and am starting to hate my life again.
To be fair, store finally seems to be turning around in spite of my poor management. I’m not sure it will ever pay me for my time much less my investment and am trying to figure out if it is even worth the effort anymore.
On the positive side, I have gained some experience running a retail business, for what that is worth.
Guess I’m feeling like time is running out for reinventing myself yet again. I know people older than me, I’m 53, have started successful careers so anything is possible.