In college (07-10) I used to flip cars for fun and cash.

I got specifically info e36 BMWs after accidentally making money selling the first one I owned.

This one started it all...a custom 1994 325is.

I bought it for $7k in the dead of winter from Detroit. Flew out there with my grandfather and we drove it back together.

2 years later when I sold it on eBay I detailed it, took amazing photos, and wrote the most in-depth description you could imagine.

It sold for $9500!

I wasn’t as crazy about the next one. A 93 325i that I bought for $4500 and sold a month later for $5300.

Next was a dream of mine at the time. I bought a 98 M3 from the original owner after doing a landscaping job at his house.

Paid $8200 at the beginning of the summer and sold for $10,200 at the end of the summer. (Crazy how I remember these numbers).

Next was a 96 M3 that had a slight dent on each A pillar from a car port collapsing under the weight of snow.

After a good detail, the “dents” were mostly just scuff marks and cleaned up nicely.

Paid $6400, sold for $7800.

Next up was a super rare diamond in the rough. A 95 M3 with the alcantara suede/cloth coupe sport lightweight (CSL) interior. This interior alone was worth $2k as parts.

I found the car on eBay. The bid at the time was $4000. I messaged him and offered $4500 cash that day.

He said yes and I drove to NY state to pick it up. The car was in rough shape. Smelled like it had been smoked in, missing oil cap, very dirty and high miles.

I took the whole interior apart and detailed like crazy. Sold it a few weeks later for $7700.

This one was the crown jewel. A supercharged 1997 M3 with only 80k miles. The seller just got back from the military, was selling everything and moving to Hawaii.

He was asking $8900 and I got it for $8000 the day it went online.

Back then Craigslist was king. I followed blogs with an RSS reader and you could do the same with Craigslist searches but very few people knew about this. When a good deal popped up, I was the first to know.

It ended up needing $1000 worth of work on the supercharger but ran perfect after that. I drove it all summer long and in the fall listed it for $14,000.

A recently divorced guy with a great job who wanted a fast car showed up, test drove it and said “I’ll take it”. No negotiating. I was thrilled.

I used the money made from doing this plus a small bank loan to buy a tent rental company for $25k when I got out of college.

I built it up for a year, got paid along the way sweating my ass off setting up tents, and sold it for $40k.

I bought the tent business because I didn’t want to work for my father. I knew I would meet a lot of interesting people setting up tents which may lead to the next career move.

This is exactly what happened.

I met a guy who owned a relatively new document management software startup. I joined as the 10th employee, got an apartment in downtown New Haven, learned software sales, marketing, SEO, PPC, and made some great friends.

Moral of the story?

To get good at business you have to DO business.

Start small but start somewhere.

You may only be hustling shoes/cars/snow plows/iPhones/whatever now but those skills translate to the next big thing in your future.